The Experiments
by FlaminFogelman
Summary: Before it happened I lived with my very abusive father. I had one friend who was a cop. I was a social outcast. But I had my sister, one of the only people I actually loved in the world. Then they took her. I didn't realize that that moment would lead to me becoming what I am today. My name is Christian, and I am one of the Experiments. This is the beginning of my story.
1. Prologue

Hello reader. I'm Christian and I will be your main character throughout this story and however many sequels, prequels and movies that blossom from it. Before this story actually starts I want to break the fourth wall for a second and get a couple things straight.

First and foremost, I am no hero. Throughout this whole thing I've had to do some things that made me question my morals and really tested how far I would go to get a job done. As it turns out, that was pretty far. I've had to sacrifice friends and family and I've spilled the blood of the guilty and the innocent. Did I mean to? Not always. Sadly the whole saving people from imminent death thing has a pretty high price that isn't always talked about.

Second, and this should be obvious since you're reading this, I am an Experiment. More specifically, a genetic hybrid, part human part bird. You've probably heard of those bird kids who were spotted all over the place, one of them named Fang started a blog at one point. I'm like them. In fact I was friends with them until... you know what, I'm starting to get ahead of myself. The point is that I'm similar at least in physical appearance to them. We'll get back to this later.

Now unlike them, I actually had a family before all this happened. Well, "family". By that I mean my sister who was four years younger than me and the creature that called itself my father. My mom died in a freak car accident shortly after my sister was born, stranding us with a complete asshole.

This story starts when I was fifteen years old, making my sister eleven. It was the middle of the night and my mother's childhood friend and father figure to me, a cop named Marcus, was at our house. This was not for a good reason.


	2. Chapter 1

"You little shit!"

I wiped the stray spit off my face but refused to respond to my father. This whole thing could've been avoided if he wasn't such an asshole.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" I stared straight ahead. He didn't appreciate that as he grabbed my shirt collar and shook me. "What did I just say?"

"Hey!" Marcus pulled him off of me, pushing him back a couple of steps. "Hey, cool it Heath. Back off now!" My father... Heath glared at Marcus but backed off. A smart decision. Marcus was quite an intimidating guy. He was tall and very well built muscles underneath his milk chocolate colored skin. If a big muscular guy telling you to get back wasn't scary enough, his gun, nightstick and taser definitely scared the crap out of people. Tonight, Heath was one of those people. It must be good to be a cop.

"Alright, Christian," Marcus said turning to me. "You do still have some explaining to do here. What the hell were you thinking?"

"That I was hungry," I muttered.

"What was that?" Marcus asked sternly.

"I was thinking that I was hungry," I said louder.

"Just cause you're hungry doesn't mean you get to steal food from a convenient store."

"Maybe I wouldn't have to if he fed me!" I yelled as I pointed at Heath. Marcus' face turned from mad to confused as his gaze shifted to a now shocked, yet guilty looking Heath. It was true. I'm not the best student and because of that, Heath had decided not to feed me until I finished work that I didn't understand. Why didn't I just ask for help you may ask? Last time I did that I was called, and I quote, "a fucking idiot who's never going to amount to anything if you can't do a goddamn word problem!" When I ask a second time, just like tonight, I end up not getting fed. Welcome to my glorious life.

"Um, I think what he means is if I fed him food that he liked," Heath said after a brief pause. He was covering his tracks. I knew that when it was his word against mine, legally he would probably be taken more seriously seeing that he was an adult. Obviously he knew that too. The look he gave me said that he knew he would get away with it and that my near future was looking... well no point in skimping over details. It was looking painful. I broke out in a cold sweat knowing that as son as Marcus left, another bruise expertly placed in an area where nobody could see it would make it's way onto my skin. In fact Heath's belt hand looked as though it had a mind of it's own and was holding back from beating me right then and there.

Marcus looked back and forth between me and Heath. He knew something wasn't right but he had no evidence of it. I knew he would try to protect me but right now, there wasn't much of anything he could do. Heath spoke up again, tired of him being in our living room.

"Well Marcus, I'll deal with this stealing business so if there's anything else you need?" Marcus looked at me with an apologetic face before turning to Heath.

"If I hear anything else from either of your kids about neglect or abuse, I swear to God Heath, I'm gonna nail your ass to the wall for it." They stood staring at each other, almost as if they were mentally daring each other to blink.

"I wouldn't worry about that Marcus. I'll be sure they know that lying is a very bad thing to do to a police officer." With that Heath went to the door and opened it. "Goodbye Marcus."


	3. Chapter 2

After Marcus had left and driven out of sight, the belt came off and whipped me in the shoulder. It came down on me again and again, always hitting my torso so the welts and bruises stayed hidden from anyone who would be rightfully concerned at the sight of them.

After what felt like hours of this whipping, the belt returned to Heath's waist. I was left curled up in a fetal position, silently crying from the pain.

"How fucking dare you!" he yelled. " How dare you embarrass me like that! You're fucking lucky that I put a roof over your head and this is how you repay me?"

I refused to answer or even acknowledge him. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Get up and go to bed," he growled. "I need to decide if you'll still have a home here after the shit you pulled." He left me there as he went to his room and sleep.

It took awhile for me to be able to get up. I winced with pain at every little movement I made. I made my way into the bathroom and upon seeing my reflection angrily wiped the tears off of my face. It was hard to believe that I was even related to that asshole. We looked nothing alike and if God exists, I guess that's something I could thank Him for. Judging from my situation though I don't think I would be doing much thanking of any deity right now.

I must've gotten my looks from my mother. I'd only seen a couple pictures of her and my memory of her was fuzzy. I had her blond hair though. Granted her hair wasn't short like mine or spiked in the front but still. I was kinda handsome, or at least I had been told by a girl here and there that I was. Heath wasn't exactly the best looking guy either so I assumed that my facial features were from her side too. Not sure where the blue eyes came from though since neither Heath or my mother have that color is either of their eyes. That remains a mystery.

I stared at my reflection for a long time before my back suddenly started feeling... wet.

Wet?

I peeled my shirt off and turned my back to the mirror to see that it was covered in blood, and when I say covered, I mean the whole thing was drenched in red, dripping blood.

No idea how I didn't notice that before.

Peeling off the rest of my clothes I got in the shower and cleaned off the blood, although it really hurt just having the water run over the cuts and bruises. I almost started crying again but made myself hold it in.

I sat there for hours just wishing for a miracle, wishing for something that would take me and my little sister Sydney away from this damn place.

I'll just be honest, I was a little bit jealous of my sister. She was the favorite after all. While I was treated like complete shit, she was treated like a princess. Of course there were times where Heath would yell at her but mostly he treated her well. He even fed her well.

The thing though is that I knew him. That would all eventually change and one day, he would start treating her the same way as he treated me. I can't let that happen. Not ever.

I just needed a way out for both of us.


	4. Chapter 3

The day after the beating Sydney and I had school. Now shockingly enough I was never exactly popular in school and to be honest, the part of the day where we were in school doesn't exactly matter to the story. I'll sum it up for you. Bullies, failed a test, bullies part two, I eat lunch alone, I fall asleep in class and get weekend detention, the bullies return, school ends.

Now for the important part.

Sydney and I were walking home from her school after I came and picked her up. Now we didn't live in the greatest neighborhood ever. It wasn't crime ridden or anything but it was ill advised to let children go off on their own since there were a few weirdos here and there. Still enough to make people paranoid though.

We weren't really talking and I could feel that there was something on Sydney's mind. She was kind of avoiding eye contact and giving off strange vibes. Finally she spoke up.

"I heard what happened last night." She said it quietly and I could detect what sounded like pity in her voice. "I'm sorry daddy is mean to you."

"You know what, it's not your fault so, don't worry about it." Obviously I didn't want to talk about this. Can you blame me? Child abuse isn't exactly a topic that anyone wants to discuss with a their eleven year old sibling. That didn't seem to matter though since Sydney kept talking about it.

"But I do worry!" she said. "I'm scared that you'll be really hurt! And what if daddy starts hitting me too?" I turned my head to find her eyes - perfect reflections of my own - completely filled with fear. I stopped and looked my sister in the eyes.

"Listen to me okay? He will never start hitting you. You listening?" Sydney nods and I keep talking. "If he ever hits you, you tell me okay? Because if he ever does, we're leaving. But he won't. You know why?" Sydney shook her head. "He never will because I'll protect you from him no matter what."

"You promise?"

"Cross my heart little sister." Then I hugged her. "I'll always protect you."

I hate what happens next.

As we were sitting there having our Hallmark gift card moment I couldn't help but notice a certain white van that was staying suspiciously close to where we were. Now like I said, our neighborhood is dangerous enough to make people paranoid, so I figured that's all it was. Of course to be safe I got Sydney walking again and soon we were headed back to our place of residence. But the van kept following us really closely. The windows were dark but I could see outlines of what appeared to be men inside the van. Just judging by the outlines it seemed like they were watching us pretty closely too.

"Sydney we need to run right now," I said to her quietly. She turned and saw the van and fear returned to her face. We were on an empty street that was really more of an alley, one we used as a shortcut home every day. We probably wouldn't get far but I had to try to get Sydney out of there.

"Christian-" she started but I pushed her forward.

"Go! Run!" I shouted, and we took off. Like I thought though, we didn't get far.

The van sped up until it was right next to us and a group of guys jumped out. They were all muscular, had the looks of super models and grabbed my sister, leading her to the van. I heard Sydney's scream and snapped. These guys didn't even seem interested in me or what I was doing.

Good.

I looked for a weapon and found a garbage can lid. I'd seen enough wrestling to know how to swing this thing and attacked the kidnappers with it. It barely even phased them and one even laughed, but I kept swinging and hitting them as hard as I could, to no avail. Finally the biggest one of them had had enough and swatted the lid out of my hands, then headbutting me.

I fell to the ground. My vision had gone blurry ans these guys were laughing. Sydney screamed again and I tried to stand. This effort was met with the big guy's boot connecting with my face. As I slipped in and out of consciousness I saw the van being loaded up and driving away, my sister's scream being the last thing I heard before I blacked out.


	5. Chapter 4

I woke up in the hospital to Marcus sitting at my bed side, totally asleep. I looked around the room wondering where Sydney was when suddenly everything came rushing back.

The van. The muscular guys.

Sydney.

As I processed everything I started getting up, accidentally waking Marcus.

"Hey man," he said, relief passing over his face. "Are you doing alright? What happened?"

"Sydney. They took her. They took my sister," I said as I started to panic. "Marcus we have to find them! They took her!"

"I know man, I know! There was a witness who told us what happened. Look, we're looking everywhere for her right now alright? We're going to find her." Marcus was doing his best but his words weren't exactly comforting me.

"Come on let's get you out of here. The doctors say you didn't sustain any major injuries."

I was cleared to leave the hospital and Marcus drove me back to my house. On the way over he asked to hear my side of what had happened because the police needed my statement. I told him everything I could remember from the model kidnappers to the darkened windows on the van and just hoped that it would be enough.

Once we pulled up I could immediately tell that shit was about to hit the fan. Heath was standing outside with his belt in his hands. As soon as he saw me in the car it was like he didn't even realize Marcus was here too. Heath just walked straight up to the car, opened the passenger's door and threw me from the car seat to the asphalt before beating me with the belt again. He did all this in front of Marcus who was out of the car within a second.

"Heath! Drop the belt and put your hands where I can see them!" Marcus yelled as he drew his pistol. Heath either didn't hear him or just didn't care because he simply grabbed onto the belt buckle and reared his fist back, intending to impale me with it. I just closed my eyes and waited for the impact.

BANG!

When the fist didn't connect I opened my eyes to find Heath on the ground with a gun shot wound in shoulder and Marcus, holding him down and cuffing him.

"You alright?" Marcus asked me. I nodded and Marcus turned his attention back to Heath.

"You fucking piece of shit!" Heath screamed at me. "You fucking let her get kidnapped! You let her! She's probably dead because of you you stupid fuck!"

I just got up and got back in the car, shutting the door and turning on the radio so I couldn't hear him as clearly. Tears started to stream down my face as I heard Marcus from outside.

"I told you I'd nail your ass to the wall. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you..."

* * *

A couple hours after I almost died, another police car had just pulled out of the driveway with Heath in the back seat. Marcus would've taken him but made up some excuse about being sure the victim in this instance needing someone they knew to be with them in order to feel safe.

I really appreciated that.

"You look like you need to blow off some steam," Marcus said when he got back in the car. I nodded. "Shooting range?" I nodded again and Marcus started to drive.

The shooting range had been a place we went to for years. Like today, it was always a way for me to blow off steam. Something about firing a gun was just satisfying to me. Maybe because it made me feel like I had a bit of control over my life which, clearly, I didn't really have much of to begin with.

Whatever it was, it kept me going back with Marcus whenever I was able to. And not to brag or anything, but I had gotten pretty good over the years.

When we got there and hung our targets, I emptied an entire clip out in seconds. Most of the shots were very close to the middle but, unsatisfied, I reloaded and fired again and again and again. The center of the target was filling up very quickly with bullet holes but it didn't help. Not this time.

Marcus noticed and after I unloaded my final clip, he spoke up.

"Look man, I know how you're feeling right now." I didn't say anything. With everything that had happened, I just didn't feel like talking. "I know how hopeless things look right now, but I promise you that everything is going to be alright. When we find Sydney, you two can come live with me."

I admit, that shocked me a bit. I knew Marcus was a good guy but to take us in? That was like some Mother Teressa or Gandhi type goodness. I hugged him and although I was happy enough to cry, I'd done enough of that today.

After our happy little moment at the shooting range, Marcus and I were on our way to his house when suddenly he pulled over and turned off the car lights.

"Wha-" I started to ask but Marcus held his finger to his lips, signaling for me to be quiet, before pointing in front of us.

The van that took Sydney was there.

And its drivers were kidnapping more kids.


	6. Chapter 5

Before Marcus could even react, the van was loaded up and began to drive away.

"Hold on," Marcus growled, eyeing the van. He began to tail the vehicle and I could practically hear my heart beating in my chest. Marcus was tough but I don't think he quite understood what he would be up against. From what little I had seen of them I had noticed that the that van had some sort of pack mentality, always teaming up to get something done. Was Marcus ready for that?

The van stopped ahead of us at a red light, trying not to seem suspicious. We stopped behind them and Marcus grabbed his pistol, checking to see if it was loaded.

"Stay here," he said as he got out of the car. Outside I heard him yell, "Police! Come out of the vehicle with your hands up!"

The drivers all got out at once but didn't bother to stop. Instead they all lunged at Marcus who, though he did his best, wasn't much of a match for them.

Although I wanted to help Marcus I also knew that those kids, not to mention my sister were all in the back of the van. I looked around the car and found another pistol, the one I used at the shooting range, and got out of the car, running to the back of the van. While the douchebags were distracted with Marcus, I opened the back as quietly as I could. The children all looked terrified but all got out and ran like hell, which alerted the douchebags. When they saw the kids were getting away, they immediately left Marcus where he was in a pool of blood and started after their escaping prisoners.

That's where I came in.

I started firing at them, turning their attention back to me. I looked back at Marcus who was knocked out but alive - I hoped - and scanned the area for Sydney. She was nowhere in sight.

When I turned back I found myself cornered by the big guy who had taken me out earlier.

Shit.

I fired at the brute in front of me. The bullets clearly pierced through his skin but they seemed to have little to no effect on him. The big guy grabbed my gun out of my hands and punched me hard. I fell to the ground and put all of my effort into staying conscious. I could hear the other guy moving towards me.

"Where are the children?" the big guy asked in a scarily calm voice.

"They got away," one of the others responded. "Should we round them up again?"

"No, we can't waste time with that. We have a deadline to meet," the big guy said. "Take this one. He's better than showing up with nothing."

I felt myself being lifted into the van and heard the engine purr as it started moving. I tried to stand but couldn't. The big guy looked over at my pathetic attempt and flashed a toothy grin.

"This is a nice gun," the big guy said holding my gun to my head, tying to intimidate me. Whatever. I was barely conscious at the moment so the fear of being shot wasn't exactly processing in my mind.

"I think I'll keep it as a souvenir," the big guy continued. "After all, you won't have much use for it now will you?"

After I still didn't give a reaction he must've gotten frustrated. One swift strike to the head with the gun and I blacked out.


	7. Chapter 6

I woke up in a dark room, locked inside what appeared to be a dog cage. It was cramped and very uncomfortable. Obviously.

As I took in my surroundings - what little of them I could see - I couldn't help but notice that surrounding my cage were a lot of people in lab coats, whispering to each other and taking down notes.

What the hell is going on?

"This one is ready," I heard one of them say. Two figures moved forward and unlocked my cage, grabbing me and throwing me hard to the floor. The wind rushed out of me and I began coughing uncontrollably.

"Get up," a familiar voice growled at me. Still coughing, I held my middle finger up to the two. This didn't seem to sit well with them as I was kicked hard in the stomach and, while a new wave of coughing rushed over me, I was lifted and carried into another room.

After being locked in a dark room for however long I had been there, the light the reflected off the white walls was blinding. For a minute I couldn't see but I could detect the very strong smell of chemicals coming from all around me. As my eyes adjusted, I started to take in my surroundings. I was being carried down a long hallway, passing by rooms with large windows that let me see inside.

It was terrible.

As we passed by, I caught glimpses of people in white lab coats who seemed to be experimenting on children. Some were injecting them with mysterious substances, some were cutting them open, some were using torturous methods that I don't even want to explain that made the children all scream bloody murder. I was pretty sure they weren't giving these kids anesthetics and panic started to set in.

Finally the two guys carrying me dragged me into a room at the end of the hall where I could see that I wasn't about to get any special treatment. There was an operating table just in front of me and people in white lab coats surrounding it with some very sharp looking tools.

"Richard, would you secure him to the table?" one of the whitecoats said. One of the two guys who carried me to this room dragged me over, setting me face down on the table a little too hard and cuffing my arms and legs down.

"You'll be one of us soon little pig," I heard him growl into my ear. I turned my head to him and saw an unfortunately familiar face and a gun at his side. My gun at his side. The big guy who had kidnapped my sister, Richard as he had been called, flashed me a toothy grin.

"Just so you know," he whispered, "this is going to be excurtiatingly painful. I'm going to enjoy this." He finished securing me to the table and left. I could hear the whitecoats around me preping for whatever kind of torture they were going to inflict on me. I struggled against the restraints which resulted in nothing. I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. All I could do was wait.

You know how people say anticipation is the worst part of waiting? Well that's half true. While my mind was racing with the possibilities of what they were going to do to me, I had completely tuned out the whitecoats. I was so invested in my thoughts at that point, dreading what was coming, I felt the skin on my back separating and blood begin to gush. It brought me screaming back to reality.

I felt another blade pierce my skin and tear through my muscles. Tendons split and ligaments were sliced. I screamed in pain but they just kept going, tearing through my back and leaving two giant parallel slices in my back.

Then came the needles. I could feel the large and quite long needles slowly going inside the slices in my back, making their way to the perfect spot to release an unknown substance into my body that burned like I was being internally set on fire.

The feeling didn't go away until I passed out from the pain.

***

When I woke up I was back in my cage and my back felt like it was on fire. I couldn't help but notice that the room was a slightly more illuminated and I could make out a group of whitecoats in front of my cage, again taking down notes and talking amongst themselves.

One of them moved closer to my cage, standing just in front of it when they turned to their colleagues. The room went silent. The person in front of me cleared their throat.

"I am happy to announce that after our past failures, we've finally done it," they said. By the sound of their voice I could tell they were female. "The creature you see in the cage before you, Experiment 013, is the first human to have avian DNA grafted into its genetic code." The other people, scientists as I was beginning to understand, seemed very pleased with this. They chattered amongst themselves, a few clapped and all of them watched me very closely, perhaps waiting to see if I did something interesting.

But hang on a second. Did this lady just say that I had avian DNA in me?

I have bird DNA in me?

"As you may be able to see, this creature's body has not yet begun it's evolution. However, if our calculations are correct, the evolution process shall begin within the next couple of days..." She continued speaking to her colleagues but my attention turned once again to my back. It was begining to hurt in a much different way than before.

Right where the slices in my back were, I could feel... movement underneath my skin. It was almost as if something was trying to push its way out of my body. My mind immediately pictured one of those chestbursters from Alien which I figured could be possible. I mean I was just experimented on.

But wait, avian DNA. That couldn't mean...

My mind was processing the situation as fast as it could until suddenly, as the Alien-esque back pain started getting worse, I had an insane idea. No, an impossible idea. One that made me question if the chemical smell in this place was getting to my head.

Am I... am I growing wings?


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: This story is about to take a turn for the sick. I rated it M for a reason so this is a warning. If there is anyone reading this right now who is disgusted by rape, you might want to skip this chapter as it features rape. The next chapter will feature hints at a rape as well. This chapter in particular was hard for me to write and I feel it's only fair to warn you as to what's coming.**

 **If you can handle it though, please proceed and don't say I didn't warn you.**

* * *

 **Months Earlier**

"Where are you little girl? Get your ass out here and say hello to daddy!" yelled a very drunk Jack Bennett. He stumbled around his house hardly able to stand up straight, but he was determined to find someone.

In a bedroom just up the hall from him two girls hid in their closet. The oldest, Maxene, an adopted African American girl held her hand over the mouth of her younger sister Layla, the target of Jack's lustful and hate filled obsessions.

Layla, a fifteen year old girl and Jack's only biological daughter, was the target for a reason. Albeit not a good reason but one that Jack put the blame on her for nonetheless. When she was born, Layla came out healthy but, due to complications, her mother Mindy died. Before that Jack had been a good man. After his wife's death however, he became angry that Layla had survived and Mindy hadn't. The way he saw it, his daughter was a murderer.

A murderer that grew to look exactly like her mother as she grew older.

When she had turned ten years old Jack couldn't take it anymore. He had beaten Layla many times and now that she was looking more and more like his beloved Mindy, Jack looked at her in a way no father, in a way no man should look at a little girl.

And on her tenth birthday, he raped her.

It had been easy for him to subdue her since she was much smaller than him. He could feel the fear radiate from her and hear the pain in her cries as he penetrated his daughter, violating her in the most inhuman possible way. Blood trickled out of her as he made his final thrust, warning the girl to never tell anyone because they would never believe her.

Five years later and he was still torturing her in this way. Tonight would be no different.

The girls huddled silently in the closet, praying that he would give up and leave when he violently threw the door open. The girls screamed in fright as an evil look flashed across his face.

"Come to daddy little girl," he growled, the smell of booze reeking on his breath. He grabbed Layla's arm and pulled her out of the closet, throwing her to the floor. As he advanced on her, Maxene threw herself between him and his intended victim.

"Stop! Please leave her alone! I can do it better, take me instead!" she pleaded. Maxene had only recently found out about Layla's abuse and had suffered beatings of her own at Jack's hands. Though she could never really want this, she would die before letting her little sister be hurt again.

"Come on," she whispered pulling the sleeve of her shirt down, exposing the strap of her bra. Jack looked her over. She was a beautiful young woman, her body had curves in all the right places. She definitely had better tits than Layla and he had looked at her ass on occasion, wondering how tight she must be.

"Alright, let's go," he muttered. Maxene turned to her sister.

"Everything is going to be alright," she said, kissing Layla on the forehead. "Stay here. Don't come out." Layla tried to say something but Maxene shushed her, shaking her head and telling her with one look that this had to be done. For her little sister's sake this had to be done.

With that Maxene stood up and with tears in her eyes, took a deep breath, and went into Jack's room. Jack stood there staring at Layla for a minute before following.


	9. Chapter 8

Layla sat there in her room, dread washing over her. She could hear the sounds through the walls; the bed creaking, the moans of discomfort and disgust, the commands coming from his mouth, the palm of his hand striking bare skin... it was too much for he to handle.

Layla began to cry, lowering her face into her hands. Tears streamed down her face and she sobbed for Maxene and for herself. Why did he do this to her? Wasn't that bad enough? Why did he have to do this to Maxene too? What did either of them do to deserve it?! Why the fuck...

As the anger started to boil inside her, Layla didn't notice that objects around her were starting to levitate. Her hair began to rise as if it was being affected by static electricity. Books, dirty clothes on the floor, the twin dressers that she shared with Maxene and even her bed had begun to float just inches above the floor until it everything in the room was levitating.

When the noise finally stopped Layla's head rose slightly as she put her ear to the wall to listen. There was heavy breathing and she knew that Jack was finished with Maxene.

At least she's not suffering anymore, Layla thought. She turned away from the wall to discover that she - along with every solid object in the room - was suspended in midair.  
She let out a shocked gasp and everything suddenly fell back to the floor.

Layla stared wide eyed at the objects in her room, not even sure what to think about what she just saw. How the hell was everything just levitating? What could've caused that? Layla racked her brain for an answer but came up with nothing. Of course she didn't. What she had just seen was impossible. Right?

The door opened suddenly making Layla jump. Maxene closed the door behind her, taking a breath before walking slowly to her bed and flopping down on it. There was a long silence and the tension could've been cut with a knife.

"He's asleep," Maxene whispered through tears. Layla wanted to comfort her, tell her it was all over now and everything would be ok. More than anything she just wanted her sister's pain to go away. Despite that though, she couldn't find the words. What could she say in a situation like this?

"Max," Layla said quietly. "Max we need to get out of here. It was bad enough when he just did this to me but now you? We can't let him do that to us again!"

"We won't," Maxene said. "We're getting out of here first chance we get. Start packing a bag."


	10. Chapter 9

The next day was school. Layla and Maxene had their bags packed and they had a plan to escape. To avoid causing too much suspicion they decided to go to school for at least a couple periods and leave during lunch. Seeing that Jack drove them to school, it would appear to him as though everything was normal as well as give them a few hours head start and food for the road. If all went according to plan, they should be far away from Jack by the time school got out.

But when does a perfect plan ever go, well, according to plan?

Throughout the day the girls went to their classes feeling anxious. Maxene had been feeling paranoid since she tried to protect Layla by giving herself to Jack. It was all that she could think of. The fear, the pain she had felt, the overwhelming sense of everything inside of her dying. It all put her on edge and she tried her best to hide it.

Layla was feeling it too. Though she tried not to believe it, she was terrified that Jack would find them no matter where they went, terrified that this was all going to be for nothing.

Then the voices started.

They came during lunch. Students crowded the cafeteria finding their friends and waiting to get food. Maxene and Layla sat together at a table away from most of their peers, their bags at their feet and their minds set on leaving.

Together they ate their last meal they'd have before setting out to go find something better. The girls were quiet as they ate until suddenly there was a voice that sounded very close-by.

"... so hot, I just wish he'd notice me..." Layla looked behind her confused and trying to pinpoint the source of the voice.

"...fucking bombed this test. Stupid teacher bitch..." Layla's head snapped back around. That was a different voice and it sounded close. Who...?

"... food is shit..."

"Max do you hear that?" Layla asked casually.

"... Gad damn kids. Our future is fucked..."

"Hear what?" Maxene asked confused.

"... that slut..."

"Hear what? I can barely hear myself think," Layla said louder, hardly able to hear herself.

"... said she'd be here..."

Lunch was coming to an end and students were filing out of the cafeteria but more and more voices continued to filter through Layla's head. They were getting louder and louder until it sounded like the whole school was screaming in her ear.

Layla covered her ears, trying her best to drown out the noise but to no avail. The voices just kept getting louder leaving Layla holding her head in agony. She looked around furiously, desperately trying to find the source of all this noise. All this fucking noise!

She could feel Maxene's hand on her arm and looked panicked at her sister. Maxene was saying something but Layla couldn't hear her over the maddening noise in her head. Tears began to stream down her face as Layla started shaking her head violently, trying her best to shake the voices out.

"Get out," she said. The voices were still there.

"Get out!" she said louder. Still there.

"Get out!" she screamed, falling from her chair to the floor. Everyone who hadn't left the cafeteria turned and stared at Layla, on the floor with tears streaming endlessly down her cheeks. Maxene was at her side immediately trying to calm her down and teachers were making their way over to them.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Layla screamed as all around her tables and chairs began to move away from her as if being pushed. Lights began to flicker, doors began to bang open and closed, windows cracked and the teachers were pushed back by some invisible force.

Layla let out a terrified scream and the windows shattered. The light bulbs exploded sending the cafeteria into darkness. Tables and chairs flew from the floor and hit the walls. Teachers were thrown back and students ran screaming from the cafeteria.

As she held her sister in her arms Maxene's hand went to her mouth in silent shock. With that last scream Layla fainted and suddenly everything stopped. The tables and chairs fell to the ground and the teachers, though disoriented, got up from where they had been thrown.

"Layla?" Maxene said, her voice shaky. Her little sister didn't respond and Maxene shook her gently in an attempt to wake her.

"Layla wake up," she said, trying to sound brave. Despite what she had just seen, despite the impossibly insane thing she had just seen she had to stay strong. It's just what big sisters did. She had to stay strong and when Layla woke up, she had to be there for her.

But Layla wasn't waking up.

"Help me!" Maxene screamed frantically at the teachers who had been standing in place in a stunned silence. They looked at one another before cautiously walking over to Maxene and her unconscious sister.

***

An ambulance had arrived and the paramedics were tending to Layla while police were getting statements. Maxene hadn't moved from where she was and while she watched Layla get checked by the paramedics, Maxene's mind went into panic mode.

What the hell had just happened? Layla had seemed normal all day until luch. Did she have a nervous breakdown or something? No. No it couldn't have been. Since when did nervous breakdowns cause the entire cafeteria to look like a scene in Poltergeist?

And since when did a scene from Poltergeist happen because of a fifteen year old girl screaming for something to get out of her head?

Maxene shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. She knew how crazy it sounded but... was Layla herself the cause of what had just happened?

The paramedics strapped Layla to a gurney. Judging from their faces Maxene gathered that none of them knew what was wrong with her. They wheeled Layla out to the ambulance and loaded her in. Maxene got up to go with her but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

Maxene turned to find herself staring at her rapist adopted father. His face looked concerned but his eyes told a different story. He was angry and glancing down at his free hand, Maxene saw why.

He had their backpacks.

He knew what they had planned to do.

"Let's go honey," he said in a tone that radiated anger. "Let the paramedics do their jobs and let's go home."

He grabbed her arm and led her out to the car and Maxene saw the ambulance pull out of the school parking lot. Jack shoved her into the car and drove in the opposite direction of the ambulance, locking the doors.

As Maxene looked back at the ambulance rapidly disappearing and heard Jack's zipper come undone - preparing to give her his sick form of punishment - Maxene hopelessly realized that she couldn't leave. Not without Layla.

Shit.


	11. Chapter 10

Layla's eyes shot open and she gasped in a breath of air, consciousness returning to her very suddenly. She lifted her hands to her head, massaging her temples and trying to ease the pain of the massive headache that had just came rushing to her.

Layla looked around. She was not in the cafeteria anymore. No shit.

She sat in at a small metal table in the middle of a small room. In front of her a mirror and a door. Layla looked down and saw that she was in a surprisingly long pair of handcuffs which were secured to the table. Now she was really confused.

"Hello?" Layla called out cautiously. This was... strange to the least. There was nobody in the room but Layla still felt as though she was being watched, and if she was handcuffed that could mean that the mirror was actually a two way mirror.

Just as this thought crossed her mind the door opened and a woman walked in the room with a file in hand. She closed the door and sat across from Layla, giving her a warm smile.

"Hi, Layla?" the woman asked. Layla nodded which seemed to make the woman happy. "Hi, I'm Doctor Harding, but you can call me Hayley. How are you today?" Layla stared at the woman, even more confused than she had been.

"Um, I don't know. I guess I'm alright." Hayley opened the file and started writing. "Um, where am I?"

"Oh don't worry, you're in good hands," Hayley said. "So it says here that you had some sort of panic attack at your school, is that right?" Layla nodded a bit more hesitantly. "Ok then, would you mind telling me a bit about that?" Hayley asked looking up at Layla.

"Well um... I don't know. It was so loud..."

"What was so loud?"

"Well... I guess it was like everyone just started yelling all at once."

"Ah yes, voices. We get that here a lot. Please keep going." Wait, what did she mean by that?

"I'm sorry, what do you mean by here? Where are we?"

"All in good time Layla. Now what were these voices saying to you? Did they want you to do anything for them?"

"Do anything? I don't..."

"Yes, most of the time when people start hearing voices they're telling them to do things that normal people wouldn't dream of. Ever heard of Son of Sam? He swore that his neighbors dog told him to murder people."

"I'm not going to kill anyone!"

"Of course you aren't, and I'm not saying you will. I just want to get to the roots of what caused the panic attack and where the voices came from. In order to do that I need to ask you some questions. That's alright isn't it?" Layla was hesitant but nodded.

"Excellent! Now, have the voices asked for anything like tell somebody something, take an certain object... kill someone possibly?"

"What? No nothing like that! They were just all talking at once and wouldn't shut up."

"Well with all that commotion how can you be sure they didn't ask you to kill someone?" Hayley said, her eyes becoming wide with excitement.

Why did she keep going back to the idea of killing people?

"I... I guess not," Layla said.

"Thank you for answering. I apologize if these questions seem a bit weird but it's standard procedure here," Hayley said jotting something down. She pulled out a paper from the file in front of her, skimming over it. "Now what happened in the actual cafeteria when this happened? This file on the incident says that authorities arrived to find tables flipped, chairs thrown, windows broken, yadda yadda yadda. The point here is that the place was in complete disarray. Did you do this?"

"I... I don't... remember..." That day had been complete chaos. Layla remembered getting glimpses of objects being thrown around but she had no idea what had happened.

"Well, in any case Layla I don't think it's safe for you to leave this place," Hayley said quickly. "It sounds like you don't know what those voices are telling you and that could be quite dangerous for you as well as others, not to mention the fact that you don't remember potentially destroying a school cafeteria. Don't worry though, we can help you." Hayley turned to the two way mirror and motioned to someone on the other side to come in. In walked two men in nurse's uniforms who unlocked Layla's cuffs.

"Come with us please Layla," Hayley said sweetly. "We'll show you where you're staying."

Hayley walked out of the room and the male nurses motioned for Layla to follow. Cautiously she followed Hayley and the male nurses followed them out. They walked to the end of a hallway and through another set of doors.

Walking through the doors, they found themselves in a large room. All around were couches full of people watching television. Next to the couches were various plants and at nearly every wall there were doors that lead to... somewhere. These walls were decorated with lovely portraits and landscape paintings, adding layers of color to the room. Across from the doors they had just come through was a wall of glass that led to what appeared to be a balcony with the most breathtaking view of a mountain range. It was beautiful.

Layla didn't have time to admire the scenery outside however as Hayley and her two helpers led her down another hallway containing various doors. They walked to the end of the hall and Hayley unlocked one of the doors, opening it for Layla and motioning her inside.

The interior of the room was quite luxurious. A large bed that appeared to be very comfortable and a couch and chair of satin sat across from a fireplace. Right next to the bed was a window that offered a view of the mountains Layla had seen earlier.

"Do you like it?" Hayley asked. Layla took it all in and nodded, a slight grin crossing her face. "It's yours," Hayley said. Layla spun around, her grin now replaced with a look of confusion.

"Wait what?" Hayley laughed.

"It's yours dear! This is your room in this beautiful place! We'll let you settle in and then I'll explain more about what exactly is going on. Sound good?" Layla nodded. "Good! I'll be back when you're settled," Hayley said, turning to leave. Just as she was about to close the door she turned back to Layla, a big smile on her face.

"Oh, and welcome to Scorchwood!"


	12. Chapter 11

It was a few hours later and Layla was getting comfortable on the couch when there was a knock at the door. Hayley poked her head in.

"You getting adjusted alright in here?" she asked.

"Yeah I am," Layla said. "It's all so beautiful here."

"It is isn't it? The nicest place our patients could possibly come to get help."

"Help with what?" Layla asked. "You never got around to explaining what this place is." Hayley smiled and came over to the couch, sitting next to Layla.

"Sorchwood is a place for people who are... sick, in a manner of speaking," she said. "We do everything we can to make them feel comfortable while we help treat them and, hopefully, let them go back into the real world some day."

"In a manner of speaking?"

"Yes well, the people here are sick in their minds," Hayley said. "They can't function in society. Some can't tell fiction from reality, some have done terrible things for insane reasons... some hear voices that no one else can hear." Suddenly Layla understood.

"Do you think I'm insane or something?"

"What I think is that you've been through some things," Hayley said, "traumatic things that you shouldn't have been put through. Trauma's don't necessarily make people insane but they can mess a person up. That's not the point though Layla. The point is that you're here right now because we can help you to silence any unwanted voices in your head. It'll take time but it's what we're aiming for. You understand right?" Layla processed this for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah... yeah I understand."

* * *

Hayley had left Layla there and as Layla prepared herself to go to sleep in her new bed, they came. The voices were back but this time different. Instead of sounding like the voices of everyone in her school it sounded more like patients were screaming in her head.

"... swear I'm going to skin the next orderly I see to death..."

"... I'm mother fucking GOD! I'd smite them all if I weren't so forgiving..."

"... around the rosey, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, they all fall..."

"... INSIDE ME WHY WON'T ANYONE HELP OH GOD IT'S INSIDE ME FUCK FUCK FUCK..."

"... knife to my mouth..."

"... nothing is real..."

"why so serious? Why so..."

Just like last time the voices were getting louder and louder and more unbearable. Layla held her head wishing, begging for the voices to go away. When they didn't, the window cracked, curtains swayed without a breeze, furniture rattled as if being rocked back and forth, the light bulb in Layla's lamp exploded and Layla suddenly sat up.

"Get out of my head! You're not real! Get OUT!"

The voices began to get quieter and everything in the room stopped, returning to the normal positions that they had previously occupied.

Everything went silent.

* * *

Off in another room two figures, one male and one female, stood in front of monitors that showed the live feed of the new girl in Scorchwood. Activity had started up in her room and the furniture, the window, everything really had begun moving on it's own as the girl held her head in apparent pain. Suddenly the girl sat up and and yelled for something to get out of her head and suddenly, everything returned to normal.

"My God..." the female muttered in shock. She wore a white lab coat and as shocked as she was, couldn't help but smile.

"Insane isn't it?" the male, a security guard said. "What was that?" The female ran her fingers through her dark hair.

"I... I have an idea. It's crazy but... get director Caulfield, tell her what we just saw. Do we want to bring this one in for testing or continue observation?" The security guard nodded, grabbing his cell and dialing.

"Are you sure this one is safe to test on Doctor Harding?" he asked. "Just wanna be sure you're absolutely sure before we let Caulfield know." Hayley turned to him, smile still plastered on her face.

"I'm sure," she said. "Make the call." The guard shrugged and put the phone to his ear. Hayley looked back to the screen and watched as Layla lay her head down and began to drift off to sleep.

Hayley was sure. This girl was strong. So strong it seemed that she was unknowingly moving objects with her mind. She'd survive the process. She'd survive and be the most effective mutant they'd ever made. A queen in the new and perfect world they were going to make.


	13. Chapter 12

5 days before Christian's abduction

Life had turned into a pure nightmare. Not only had Maxene been the victim of multiple violent rapes at Jack's hands but she was also being beaten day after day. It didn't help that he seemed to be able to talk his way out of anything with the police on the few occasions they had been called by neighbors.

It had gotten to be so bad that Maxene had started to drink, and it seemed like that's all she was able to do to numb the pain. Constantly craving a drink didn't exactly help either as the craving left her thirsty and feeling less in control than she had in her entire life.

On top of it all, Maxene hadn't seen Layla in three months. Ever since that day she broke down at school, Layla had seemingly disappeared and hadn't made any contact since.

Seemingly disappeared. Maxene had been searching for Layla in the streets and everywhere on the internet. For three months she had found nothing until just the other day when she stumbled onto a patients list for a place called Scorchwood Asylum in California, not too far from the city she currently lived in. Layla's name had been on the list.

Why she hadn't made contact with her Maxene didn't know. Maybe she wasn't allowed to or something. Whatever though. Maxene knew where her sister was now and nothing to lose. She decided to leave this hell hole and pay her sister a visit. Maybe she could try and get herself locked up too, then they could be together again.

Maxene had a bag packed and ready to leave. The only problem was Jack. He had been keeping a close eye on her since the day Layla had been taken to this Scorchwood place. Maxene hadn't been able to do pretty much anything without him checking in to be sure she hadn't tried escaping anymore. Maybe the thought of losing another play thing sickened him or maybe he just didn't want her bringing attention to what was going on behind closed doors. Either way, with him always watching her every move it didn't seem like Maxene was going anywhere.

But Maxene had thought about that already, and she had already made a plan for that.

It was Monday when she decided to make a break for it. Part way through school, she left the building and started walking. Maxene figured she had about twenty minutes before Jack was called by the school and came looking for her, plenty of time to get a head start.

She figured wrong.

It had been about five minutes before she turned into an alleyway and found herself cornered by Jack.

"And just where the fuck do you think you're going?" he growled. Maxene let out a gasp of shock as Jack began to advance on her. "Are you really so stupid that you'd try this same crap again and think I wouldn't know about it?" Maxene backed up, trying to get away from him but backed into a wall. He continued forward and Maxene reached into her bag, pulling out the forty-five pistol she had stolen from Jack's closet. Jack stopped, his face fearful at first but molding into amusement.

"Here's what's going to happen," Maxene said trying not to let the fear in her gut come out in her voice. "You're going to get out my way and let me go. Forget you saw me and I won't have to-"

"Won't have to shoot me?" Jack chuckled. "That's cute. I doubt you even know the first thing about how to work a gun."

"I know how to pull a trigger," Maxene said angrily and not appreciate being mocked. "Get out of my way." Jack just smirked.

"Is the safety on or off bitch?" Maxene looked at the gun in her hands. Shit. She had no idea. there was even a safety feature on a gun.

Seeing the brief distraction had worked, Jack lunged at Maxene. She let out a scream and pulled the trigger, the gun going off and Jack falling to the ground clutching the bleeding hole in his chest. Maxene quickly reached into his pocket, taking all of his cash and ran. She found his car and looked through it trying to find something that would help her, finding an opened beer can in the cup holder but not finding much that would be of use.

Oh my God I shot him. Maxene put her hand to her mouth and tears trickled down her face, not for him but because of the fact that she had never shot someone, never even held a gun in her life. It was horrible, shooting a person. No matter how bad of a person they were, it just... didn't feel right.

She reached for the beer and, seeing that there was some left, gulped it down. Suddenly everything felt better. Well, slightly better. Enough to make her stop crying at least.

"Ok... time to go," she said to herself. Maxene got up and walked out of the alley, stuffing the gun back into her bag as she went. She went to the sidewalk and flagged down a taxi, getting in quickly and pulling out the money she took from Jack.

"So where to kid?"

* * *

1 day before Christian's abduction

Due to some stupid company policy or something, Maxene had had to switch cabs quite a few times. It didn't really matter though because in the end, she had made it to her destination.

Scorchwood Asylum. It was a huge building with beautiful scenery all around it. Weird, considering it was in the middle of a small town near Death Valley. Whatever though. At least her sister was in a nice place.

 _I'm coming Layla,_ Maxene thought.

* * *

Inside Scorchwood, Layla sat on a balcony, enjoying the view of the mountains in front of her. It had been a few months since she had arrived in Scorchwood and things were going nicely. The staff had treated her well and she got frequent visits from Hayley. The patients seemed nice, for the most part.

There were a few of course who were... out there. A guy who had killed his brother and had an incestual relationship with one of his sisters before slaughtering the rest of his family for example. He wasn't exactly social and Layla had never met him. Not that she wanted to of course, she was perfectly fine with staying away from him. How did she know that then? Simple. The voices told her.

She had been given pills to stop the voices and for awhile, they seemed to stop. But they didn't. In fact they came back despite the pills. This time though they were more clear. Layla had discovered something about them; they were the voices of everyone in the building, not just some random voices that her mind had created. It was crazy but, Layla had gotten the idea that she was hearing the thoughts of everyone there.

It was more extensive than that though. Once Layla got the idea in her head she started to try things like focusing on one voice at a time. Once she had mastered that she tried digging deeper. Eventually she found that she could not only hear thoughts of others but also hack into their minds and see memories.

It was amazing. Scary, but amazing.

Today she was doing just that. Hearing people's life stories had become something that Layla loved doing while looking out over the mountains. She was happily listening to a woman's memories from childhood when suddenly...

 _I'm coming Layla._

Layla's eyes went wide with both shock and excitement.

 _Maxene?!_


	14. Chapter 13

Maxene started walking towards the doors when she suddenly heard a voice in her head. To be more specific, she heard Layla's voice.

 _Maxene?!_

"Layla?" Maxene said. "Where are you?"

 _I'm inside. Where are you?_

"I'm - "

 _Oh wait, you're right outside! Oh my God you're really here!_

"Yeah I am! Wait, how am I hearing you if you're inside?"

 _Oh right. This may sound a bit weird but I'm talking to you with my thoughts right now._

"... wait what?"

 _I know how it sounds but Max, trust me. You should probably start using your thoughts to talk to me. People might start thinking you're crazy or something._

Well this wasn't how Maxene was expecting this to go. It seemed crazy but Layla seemed to have become telepathic during her stay here. Sure it made zero sense but how else could Maxene explain hearing her sister's voice coming from literally everywhere at once yet not see her anywhere?

Whatever though. Maxene was willing to accept anything at this point if it meant seeing Layla again. There was probably a logical explanation for all this but she'd play along for now. She switched to thoughts.

 _So where exactly are you inside?_

Maxene went inside and found Layla waiting for her behind the doors with a dark haired woman at her side.

"Is that her?" the woman asked Layla.

"Yes! Max!" Layla squealed as she ran over and embraced her sister. The two held onto each other for the longest time, giggling in excitement and shedding tears of joy before finally breaking apart.

"Max this is Hayley," Layla said motioning to the woman beside her. Hayley smiled. "She's been taking care of me."

"Thank you for that," Maxene said. Hayley nodded.

"I'll let you two catch up," Hayley said. "It was nice meeting you Maxene."

Layla led Maxene back to her room and the two talked about what had been happening in their lives. Maxene kept her story brief, not wanting to remember and no wanting to upset Layla. When she mentioned Jack the two went silent for a minute. Neither of them really knew what to say. After a couple minutes of awkward silence, Layla finally spoke up.

"You know you can talk to me about it Max, if you want. If you need to. I'm here."

"I don't really want to talk about it Layla," Maxene said hesitantly. "I mean, rape isn't really a great subject for either of us, so I'd rather not."

"I'm not just talking about that," Layla said. Maxene looked confused so Layla elaborated. "Max I know you shot him." The look of confusion on Maxene's face turned from that of confusion to that of shock.

"How... how did you..." She struggled to get a sentence out. Layla was here when that happened. Unless they showed the news here, which Maxene found unlikely, there's no way that Layla should've known. So how...?

Layla placed a comforting hand on Maxene's shoulder.

 _It's alright Max, she said without even opening her mouth. I know more than that. You can trust me and talk if you need to. I mean what are sisters for?_

Maxene sat there in shock. _Holy shit. Layla wasn't kidding. That's... whoa._ Maxene smiled in amazement.

* * *

Hayley watched the camera feed from another room as Maxene and Layla talked, and boy did she like what she was hearing. Not only had both girls suffered the same abuse, but Maxene had even shot her father. The abuse of course was unfortunate but it would make them easier to control, which made Hayley happy.

The trauma alone would make them even more ready to snap, making them even deadlier. If Hayley was correct about Layla - and she was sure that she was - the girl had certain... abilities. It was clear from the months of footage Hayley had observed that Layla wasn't just hearing random voices, she was hearing people's thoughts.

The girl was a _telepath_.

That wasn't all either. That footage had shown many times where Layla had moved objects without realizing it, moving them with her mind to be more specific. Though she hadn't caught onto that quite yet it was so obvious to Hayley that this child was also telekinetic. How she had gained these abilities escaped Hayley yet impressed her at the same time.

Then of course there was Maxene. She was a murderer. Not that Hayley blamed her. The son of a bitch had it coming. But that wasn't the important thing. She had been pushed to that point once, meaning she could be pushed there again. She was a prime candidate for experimentation, the only issue - and it was only a slight issue - was that she was not a patient at Scorchwood, making this a matter of child abduction, very much unlike the patients who could simply be - what was the bullshit they gave families or police or whatever? - moved to another facility.

Maxene of course would probably need a place to stay, until the extraction was ready. That would be easy to take care of. Hayley decided she would let her stay in the spare room at her home, a room in Scorchwood if necessary.

A smile crossed Hayley's face. These two would make perfect subjects and she couldn't wait to get started.


	15. Chapter 14

Day of Christian's abduction

Maxene woke up in the bed Hayley had made for her at the last minute the night before. It was the first night in a long time she had gotten a good night's sleep.

Well, mostly good. Sure there had been a couple nightmares here and there and a few times where she woke up suddenly, drenched in sweat. Natural stuff after what she had been through.

There was a knock at the door and Hayley poked her smiling face in.

"Mind if I come in?" she asked, not waiting for an answer. She came in holding a tray of food that filled the room with the most amazing smells. Chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, an omelet and some freshly brewed coffee. Maxene's heart skipped a beat just from the smell. She wasn't used to this kind of treatment and couldn't help feeling... well, blessed. Maybe there was a God after all.

Hayley set the tray down in front of Maxene who - despite wanting to be polite - began wolfing down the food. Jack had neglected to feed her quite a few times and she had saved her money the days before for cab rides. Hayley watched, astonished that she Maxene had been able to finish so quickly.

"Sorry," Maxene said wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Haven't eaten much lately."

"I can see that," Hayley said with a slight giggle. "There's more in the kitchen if you'd like seconds."

"Only hell yeah." Maxene got out of bed and hurried to the kitchen. It was a beautiful sight.

"Help yourself," Hayley said. "After you finish eating we can go back to see Lay - " Her phone went off suddenly and Hayley gave an apologetic look to Maxene before answering it.

"Hello? ... Today? Alright when? ... Well that's a bit early don't you think? ... No no, I just wish I would've been notified of this yesterday. ... It's fine it's fine, I just mad breakfast anyway. I'll see you soon. ... Ok bye." Hayley returned her phone to her pocket and joined Maxene at the table.

"Who was that?" Maxene asked. "Not to be nosy or anything."

"Oh just a couple colleagues. It looks like they'll be joining us for breakfast." Hayley picked up her own mug of coffee. She took a sip and her door was kicked in. Some super model good looking men rushed inside and quickly grabbed Maxene. She screamed and fought against them but to no avail. She reached out to Hayley, hoping the woman who had taken care of Layla would help her but Hayley just sipped her coffee and watched until one of the men punched Maxene in the side of the head, knocking her unconsious.

"Be careful with her boys. I'll see you at the lab." The men left and Hayley sat at the table, filling a plate with food. Well, someone had to eat it.

* * *

Meanwhile at Scorchwood, Layla woke up to find people in her room.

"Um, who are you?" she asked. The men looked up and seeing that she was awake, lunged for her. Layla screamed, rolling off the bed. She had to find a way to get past them, whoever they were. It was no use though. They had cornered her and were closing in, ropes and a wet rag in hand.

"Get away from me!" Layla shouted as the furniture began to rattle. "Leave me alone! Please leave me alone!" One of the men grabbed Layla's arm, pulling her closer and attempting to put a wet cloth over her mouth. Layla's hands shot up instinctively, trying to protect her face.

It worked better than expected. The hand stopped moving forward despite the best efforts of the man trying to drug her. They both seemed surprised but Layla regained focus, pushing him away as hard as she could and sending him flying across the room. Layla looked down at her hands in shock. What the hell just happened?

The other two men rushed her. Layla put her hands up in a defensive position and sent them both flying across the room. All three men were down though they were recovering.

 _Ok this seems like a stupid idea but what if... ?_ Layla focused on the couch in the center of her room and willed it to move. It floated off the ground and collided with the two men she had just pushed away making them fall to the floor once again. The third man was up and lunged but Layla sent the chair crashing into him. All three were down and didn't appear to be moving.

 _Holy shit,_ Layla thought. _How..._ But her thought was interrupted by a small stabbing pain in her leg. Looking down she saw the man she had hit with a chair sticking a syringe into her leg, her vision suddenly becoming blurry before she passed out.


	16. Chapter 15

Christian's POV, 1 week later

I woke up screaming again, the pain in my back once again tearing me from sleep. I reached behind me and felt the two new limbs sticking out of my back. Bony yet soft with new feathers.

It was probably the worst pain I've ever felt. The dog crate wasn't exactly helping either.

"Fuck this," I whispered, trying and ultimately failing to sit up straight. I'll be honest, this was scaring me. I wasn't going to show that of course. Seemed to me that that's exactly what these douches wanted. Hell it's what Heath wanted.

It was the middle of the night and the building seemed to be completely free of sciencey dicks. It was pretty dark but since they put the bird DNA in me I had been - for lack of a better term - going through changes.

Shut up with your damn puberty jokes.

Anyway, changes. During some of the tests that I was being put through I noticed that I was suddenly able to run for longer and faster than before. My reflexes had improved too and I even noticed that my senses seemed to be improving. I could hear better and smell better than before. Never really imagined bird as big users of smell but whatever. I had also discovered I was able to see better too. I could see a bit better in the dark and zoom in my vision. Kinda like I was doing now.

I had discovered on my first night here that there were a lot of other cages surrounding mine, all full of other kids that had been experimented on. Some had tails and some had wings, some looked healthy-ish and others were dying in the worst ways possible. One kid who had been next to me came back from experimentation one day and he was all kinds of fucked up. There were puncture wounds all over his body, his legs were conjoined, some strange liquid was running down his face from his eyes. Some time later he started convulsing. His body shook violently making his cage rattle. I think he was screaming but if he was, it was masked by the sound of him choking on his own vomit and blood.

Not gonna lie, that kinda fucked with me. He had been in the cage next to mine.

Just thinking about it made me shiver and I tried to put the thoughts out of my head.

Looking around the room I noticed two cages pretty close to mine with two girls I'd never seen before. The one closest to me had long brown hair, a few freckles on her face and seemed to be in her pajamas. Next to her was an African American girl with curly dark hair and nice sized... sorry getting off topic. Strangely, she had pajamas on too.

 _Shit, did they get kidnapped too?_ I thought. They didn't appear to be conscious or to have any horrible disfigurements so I figured that my conclusion made sense.

 _How many kids do they have in this place?_ I wondered.

* * *

 **No POV**

Layla woke up suddenly. She sat up quickly but ended up hitting her head against the roof of... a cage?

Was she in a dog cage?

Layla felt around her. Yep, that was a dog cage. A cramped little dog cage that smelled like dog piss. Who the hell puts people in dog cages?

Her eyes began to adjust and Layla looked around through the darkness. Though she could barely see, she was able to make out the outline of another cage next to hers. Inside was a girl that Layla was able to identify.

"Maxene?" Layla whispered. Maxene didn't move. Layla hoped she was just sleeping. "Maxene!" she whispered a bit louder.

"So you're awake," a voice said from the darkness. Layla turned her head and was able to make out another cage, this one with a boy in it. It was too dark to see many features but she could see a little bit a blond hair.

"Sorry if I scared you," he said. "Just wanted to say hello."

"Hello," Layla replied hesitantly. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"I'm Christian," he said. "And your name is?"

"Layla."

"You know the girl next to you?"

"Yeah, she's my sister."

"She got a name?"

"Maxene. You didn't answer my question. Where am I?"

"Um, some sort of lab. The people here are kind of assholes."

"I kinda got that from the dog cage."

"You'll get it more when they start the experimentation."

"Experimentation?"

"Yeah, it's not pleasant. They cut my back open and put some sort of bird DNA into me. Believe it or not, I'm growing wings." Christian spread them as far as he could in the cage and Layla (whose eyes had adjusted enough to see them relatively clearly) gasped in shock. "Hurts like hell. I haven't been able to sleep for awhile."

Layla didn't know what say. Hell, she didn't know what to think. Genetic experimentation? That's why she had been kidnapped?

And just when life was starting to get nicer.

Maxene suddenly woke up, hitting her head just as Layla had earlier. Scanning the room, she found Layla in a cage next to her.

"Layla? What the hell happened?"

Layla introduced Christian and began to explain what was going on, what had been done to him and what was probably going to happen to them as well. Maxene's face appeared to grow more horrified with every sentence.

"Did they hurt you Max?" Layla asked a bit worried. "When they took you did you get hurt? What about Hayley, is she ok?"

"I'm pretty sure that bitch is the one who got me kidnapped in the first place," Maxene growled. "These big muscular guys broke down the door and took me right in front of her. She didn't even make a move to help, she just smiled and drank her damn coffee."

"Wait what?" Layla said. That didn't sound like Hayley. Hayley was a good person, the one who had taken care of her when she really needed it. There was no way she'd just sit there and watch someone potentially be hurt. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure," Maxene snapped. "Whatever this is, she must be part of it. She called the guys who took me her colleagues!"

"So from what I've gathered," Christian butted in, "this Hayley chick is a bit of a bitch?"

"Ya think?" Maxene huffed.

The doors then swung open, flooding the room with light. The three could hear the other experiment children scuttering to the back of their cages, moaning and hissing in fright. The three held their hands up to block the light and squinted to get a better view. A female figure walked into the room followed by a very muscular male. Their features were indistinguishable due to the light behind them making shadows conceal their faces.

"Lights please," the woman's voice rang out. The room was suddenly illuminated with a bright white light, all the caged children to cringe and give yelps of pain. Once their eyes had adjusted, the three looked around and Layla and Maxene got their first look the boy they had been talking to. His short blond hair and beautiful blue eyes were very capturing features indeed.

Then they saw his back and horror grasped them.

He had two limbs growing from his back. They were bony and covered in bloody red muscle tissue. Only a couple of areas on them contained bits of skin, which appeared to be growing white feathers.

"Get a good look girls," the woman said. They turned their attention to the woman, seeing a familiar face.

"What you see next to you lies in you future. We're going to turn you into beautiful queens of the New World!" Hayley shouted in excitement, her signature smile etched into her face. "Richard, be a dear and escort the girls to the lab."

Richard, Christian thought in rage as he looked up at the man who had beaten him down twice now. Richard walked forward to retrieve Layla and Maxene when he noticed Christian's angry glare.

"Got a problem kid?" Richard kneeled down so that he was on Christian's level. The two glared at one another in hatred and Richard pulled out the gun he had taken from Christian, pointing it through the cage.

"You remember this don't you?" he said tauntingly. "It's a cute little plaything. Not that I really need it." He put the gun away, not taking his eyes off of Christian.

Suddenly he began to change. He was becoming harrier and more muscular. Veins were popping out of his arms his size grew twice that of what it already was. On his hands, his nails grew sharper and longer, each nail reaching about nine inches. Then his face began to change. His mouth and nose began to elongate, his teeth growing longer and sharper like his nails had. His eyes turned a veiny yellow and his ears got pointy, growing a couple inches. This continued until he was fully covered in dark, fur like hair which gave him the appearance of a wolf.

Christian's face turned from one of anger to one of fright, making Richard laugh.

"Like I said, don't need it. I'm much more deadly than a gun anyway," he growled. Richard rattled the cage, shaking Christian around and laughing while he sniffed the air. He smiled. "Heh heh... I can smell your fear kid." With that, he grabbed Layla's cage and Maxene's cage, carrying them out of the room and to the lab.

Minutes later, Christian could hear their screams echoing from down the hall.


	17. Chapter 16

1 Month Later

"It's been a month since we mixed avian DNA with that of Experiments 013, 014 and 015 Director Caulfield," Hayley said to the woman sitting across from her.

"And? What have you found?" Caulfield said in an uninterested tone. Hayley cleared her throat.

"Experiment 013 has successfully healed from his wounds. His wings are fully grown and he is discovering his new abilities. He's tried to escape while we try to gather data but it's being handled."

"And the girls?"

"Experiment 014 is doing surprisingly well considering she was combined with a non science made bird and doesn't possess her sister's abilities. Being the only one who had no special circumstances that could guarantee her survival, we have been impressed. Her sister, Experiment 015 - my personal favorite of the three - has expanded the use of her powers. She has been experimenting with her telekinesis and her telepathy. She has almost escaped dozens of times so we unfortunately had to put her in the gauntlets. Such a shame too. If we could just study her powers a bit more..."

"Ah yes her powers," Caulfield said. "Do we have any idea how she gained them?"

"Not in the slightest," Hayley said. "She is the first powered human we ever found and experimented on. I know she's not cooperating now but Director, I think I can make her into the most powerful killing machine we've ever created. She could be the one who helps us end the rest of the human race!"

"If she learns to cooperate that is. That's on you Hayley." Hayley nodded, clearly having something evil in mind. "Now, what of Maximum Ride and her goup?"

"What of them?" Hayley asked, clearly confused. "We haven't seen or heard anything about them for years."

"They escaped. They escaped and they're still out there. How do we know they won't come back to free these three?"

"They're no heroes Director. Besides, Jeb abandoned them with little knowledge of how to fight. Plus, the Super Erasers are operational. In fact, Richard has proven himself to be quite the soldier for us. Even if Maximum Ride and her family came back, they would stand no chance of freeing them."

"Good. Those three are the beginning of something great Hayley. They are the pieces we need to bring about the New World. I don't want assets like that to be lost."

* * *

"I really need a drink," Maxene moaned. She had been going through withdrawal symptoms since she had been experimented on and they were getting progressively worse.

"I still can't believe you became an alcoholic Max," Layla muttered. "How could you not see something like this coming? How has it ever helped you?"

"You don't get it," Maxene said.

"Don't tell me I don't get it. I of all people get it. What he did was evil and unforgivable but for you to do this to yourself? Max for God's sake look what a little drink has done to you. Seriously, what did it ever do for you?" There was a silence before Maxene let out a sad sigh.

"It made me numb," Maxene said. "When you were taken to Scorchwood, life became a living hell. Not only did my sister mysteriously dissappear but Jack got... creative. He started using some really sick toys, making me do disgusting things and doing disgusting things to me. When I drank, it made it all less painful. Sometimes I'd pass out and not even feel anything. Layla I would've killed myself without it. It was the only thing that helped." Another silence fell over the room. Layla hadn't investigated that far into what had happened. She couldn't bear to do it. She still couldn't, not after what Maxene had just told her. Imagination was more than enough for her.

I'm sorry Max, Layla thought. I didn't look that far into your memories. I didn't know.

It's alright, I just want the pain to stop.

So do I.

"Hey guys," Christian said suddenly. "I think something's wrong."

The girls looked over to his cage. His wings had fully developed from the fleshy mess they had been before. They were big white wings folded neatly against his dry blood caked back. Most of his body was covered in now dry blood from the tests the whitecoats had been running. That, and Richard. He seemed to enjoy hurting Christian. The poor kid looked like some sort of fallen angel from everything that had happened.

"What is it?" Maxene asked. Her wings and Layla's had grown in too. They weren't as big as Christian's but they were pretty big. Layla's had become more brown like that of a hawk while Maxene's brown with specks of white and black thrown in here and there.

"You know how Richard can turn into that wolf thing?" Christian asked.

"Eraser," Layla said.

"Right, Eraser," he said.

"Yeah, what about it?" Maxene asked.

"Should I be concerned that I seem to have grown retractable claws?" The girls' expressions went to that of surprise.

"Probably just a bird thing," Maxene said, though for some reason she doubted it.

"Yeah I guess, but I don't think any birds have retractable claws," Christian muttered. "So, have we come up wih any more escape plans?" The girls shook their heads. They had been trying to escape for a month and every attempt had been stopped by the Erasers and the whitecoats. There were just too many of them.

"I might be able to help you with that," a voice said. The three turned to see who had spoken and saw a man standing in the doorway. He looked young though had light - almost white - colored hair. He had glasses and wore a white lab coat. He was one of them but something felt different about him. He smiled at them.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Oliver, Oliver Fulton. I'm sorry about the cages, my colleagues can be a little paranoid. They think you'll hurt them if you get out."

"Ok that's great. What do you want?" Christian asked with hostility.

"Right. Listen, I've been monitoring your health, all of your health. You're all doing well. Vitals are stable, any injuries you've sustained will heal, your new mutations seem to be treating you very nicely..."

"Hey buddy, focus," Christian snapped. "What. Do. You. Want?"

"Right, sorry. The point here is that you all seem to be in perfect condition. In my professional opinion, you could all go free. My colleagues wouldn't agree with that of course, they think there's so much data to collect. It's fine though, we can collect any missing data from the next people we help."

"Help?" Christian chuckled. "You think you're helping us?"

"Well yes," Oliver smiled. "Why else would I be here? I want to help the human race evolve, just like my colleagues. I know they seem to be chattes - oh right you don't understand French - what I mean is I know they seem to be twats, but they really are doing all of this for the good of humanity. Believe it or not but they actually are good people."

"Sure buddy," Christian said.

"You said you could get us out of here?" Maxene said.

"Oh yes," Oliver said. "You three are in perfect health, all you really need is to learn how to fly. I can help you with that too."

"You don't have wings," Layla said.

"No, but I know..."

"The science behind flight. Are you sure that can help us to fly?"

"Absolutely." The three exchanged looks.

"We're going to need a minute," Layla said. The three switched to thoughts and discussed.

I don't trust him, Christian thought.

That's a bit hasty isn't it? Maxene thought back.

Well if I'm not mistaken, the last person you guys trusted turned out to be an evil bitch. I'm sorry if a random guy who admits to working for these guys strikes me as really shady when he offers to help us.

Look Christian, just because he works for them doesn't mean he's evil too. Look at him. He actually looks like he wants to help us.

So did Hayley.

That was one person.

So is this guy. What makes you so sure he's any different?

Both of you hush! Layla suddenly chimed in. You both have good points but I already read his mind. He actually believes that the work they're doing here is helping people, as insane as it may sound. He's trustworthy though. He's serious about getting us out and teaching us how to fly.

Then let's go for it, Maxene thought.

I'm with Max, Layla thought. Christian's thoughts sighed.

Alright fine. If you're mind read-y thing says it's fine, I guess he might be trustworthy. Let's do it I guess.

"Alright, we decided to trust you," Layla said.

"Excellent," Oliver said with a smile.


	18. Chapter 17

They discussed with Oliver exactly how they were going to escape. Oliver would leave their cages unlocked that night, allowing them to get out and navigate their way out of the facility. Once they were out, they would find Oliver in one of the vans used for kidnapping children for experimentation and he would drive them away from this place. Perfectly simple. What could go wrong?

That night, Oliver left their cages unlocked and the plan was put into action.

* * *

Christian's POV

We waited for the last lights to go out before we opened our cages and snuck through the doors. I heard whimpering coming from the other cages but we couldn't go back and risk breaking more out. Three missing genetic experiments would cause enough panic and rage, but a whole building?

I promised myself that we'd eventually come back and save these kids. I of course had no idea if I could keep that promise but it might help me sleep at night.

We found ourselves in the hallway that led to various labs but as far as an exit was concerned, we had nothing.

"Alright this is a bad idea, but we might have to split up to find an exit," I whispered.

"Are you crazy? What about Erasers?" Layla hissed.

"Look I know but this place is too big for us all to check one room at a time. We'll be here until the whitecoats come back."

"Layla, can you connect our minds so we can keep in contact?" Maxene whispered. "Splitting up doesn't sound like a great plan but at least we'll all be able to alert each other of danger or say that we found something." Layla looked at Maxene, then to me, then back to Maxene before letting out an annoyed sigh.

Alright fine, you guys wanna split up? Let's do it. Layla looked uneasy. She clearly wasn't happy with this plan but considering she wasn't offering up anything...

The three of us turned and went in different directions. I entered one of the labs and found a glass case in front of me. Inside it was a metal staff that had what looked like foot long blades on either end. I was immediately curious about why it was the only thing in the room. These guys make weapons too?

I went a bit closer to the case. After all, this staff thing could be useful. If I could find a way to get it out of the case...

SMASH!

Suddenly it came crashing through the glass case, one of the bladed ends flying directly towards my face.

* * *

Maxene made her way through a lab that smelled of chemicals and rotting flesh. All around the room she had seen dead bodies, all of them belonging to some of the other children. They were torn to shreds and some looked as though they had been eaten by some sort of animal.

She looked around some more and found what looked like claw marks all over the walls, almost as if someone or something had been trying to escape. That, or like other predators, it had been sharpening it's claws.

On top of it all there was blood all over the walls. Upon closer inspection Maxene realized that whatever was in here had used the blood of it's many victims to write and draw all over the walls. On one wall were the lyrics to Ring Around the Rosey and on another was simply the word "Meat", an arrow leading from it and pointing to the worst part; a face that had been expertly removed from a victim's head and stuck to the wall with multiple scalpels. A faceless body sat slumped below the face.

Maxene had never felt such terror in her life. No human could do this. Whatever had been in here had to be some sort of genetic monster that these bastards had cooked up.

The door slammed shut behind her and she whipped around. A man stood in between her and the now shut door. He was tall and muscular with glowing yellow eyes, the eyes of a predator.

"So," he said slowly. "You've found my friend's room. She's quite... creative isn't she?"

"Who are you?"

"TH06R32N. But I like Thorn. And I'm afraid this is the part where I kill you."

* * *

Layla walked through the halls, checking through every door to see if perhaps she could find the exit just lying there waiting her. But no, of course it couldn't be that easy. God forbid it should be that fucking easy.

A chill went down Layla's spine and she glanced over her shoulder. She had the strangest feeling that she was being watched, followed by something she couldn't see in the darkness.

A sudden clatter of medical equipment falling to the ground rang out behind her and Layla whirled around, her hands up in a defensive position. She of course had never been in a fight in her life, but she was ready to be in one now if necessary.

A sinister giggling filled the room and echoed off the walls, not appearing to be coming from any one direction. It kept going until it could more accurately be described as the laugh of a psychopath.

Scratching on the walls came from all around and Layla still wasn't able to pinpoint what was making all this noise. Suddenly, no more laughing.

"You're still so cute," a female voice rang out, sounding so sweet yet so haunting. "You look good enough to eat Layla." The voice giggled again.

"... wh... who are you?" Layla was hardly able to say. "How do you know me?"

"Oh honey, you don't remember?" the voice cooed. "But we had so much fun together. You were my bestie back in Scorchwood."

Scorchwood. Shit. Layla's eyes went wide with sudden fear. It couldn't be her. Not her. She had been locked in a max security prison after what happened. She was supposed to be gone.

The owner of the voice stepped out into the light. She was quite the beautiful specimen. Long brown hair with a face that screamed innocence, but whose eyes told a story of violence and death. Those piercing yellow eyes...

Layla's mouth hung open in shock and she began to tremble in fear. It was her. She was supposed to be gone forever but there she was, smiling a toothy grin at Layla.

"Oh my God..." Layla put her hand over her mouth as tears began to well up. "Luna..."


	19. Chapter 18

Luna suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Layla and pinning her up against a wall. She sniffed at Layla and frowned.

"You smell... different," she muttered. Luna stared at Layla for a second before licking her face, Layla's tears now streaming. "You taste different too. I don't like it. They messed you up. Oh well, guess I have to get used to it. Meat's meat."

Her fist came up and jabbed Layla hard in the stomach. Layla yelped in pain and began coughing uncontrollably. She clutched her stomach in pain as Luna dropped her to the ground.

"Speaking of meat, you haven't seen my room yet have you?" Luna asked suddenly sounding quite peppy. "I set everything up and it's just the cutest little thing! We should have a sleepover you and me. Girl's night. I'll introduce you to my roommates! They're a bit quiet but they just love new people. Actually, I think I have one of them with me now!"

She turned around and searched the tables behind her before letting out a delighted squeal and coming back, pearly white canines smiling at Layla.

"I found him! Layla, I'd like you to meet Georgie. Georgie, meet Layla." Luna tossed something at Layla and it landed on the floor in front of her. Looking up and seeing what exactly it was made Layla scream in terror, crawling back from it but finding herself blocked by the wall.

In front of her lay Georgie, a man's severed face that was still sticky with blood.

"Oh don't be rude!" Luna snapped. "There there Georgie, you'll have to forgive her. She spooks easily... What? ... You know I think you're right, you did kind of sneak up on her. Maybe she needs a more face to face introduction. What do you think Layla? Face to face sound good to you?"

Before Layla could say anything Luna lunged at her, Georgie in hand. Layla tried to crawl away. She kicked and screamed, punched and bit but Luna pinned her down and took a needle out of her hair - hair that she was ripping out of her head and threading the needle with. She grabbed Layla's face and pulled her closer.

"This is gonna hurt," she whispered. "Don't worry, you're in good hands."

She shoved Layla down again and placed Georgie on top of her victim's face.

"Doctor Luna here, ready for your facial reconstruction surgery?" Luna cackled and plunged the needle through Georgie and through Layla's face and began to sew the two together. Layla screamed and cried out for help, her mind starting to power down as she once again felt powerless to stop what was being done to her.

***

Maxene collided with the wall, hearing a crack and feeling a sudden agonizing pain in her side. Shit! My rib!

Thorn advanced towards her in full Eraser form. His foot came down into her already hurt ribs making Maxene scream. He smiled and picked her up up again, throwing her across the room. Maxene flew into a bookshelf full of scientific books and documents, the whole thing falling on top of her on the way down.

"Look I'm sorry about this kid," Thorn said. "It's nothing personal. Just orders. If it makes you feel any better, you seem like a nice girl. I'm sure under different circumstances we'd be friends. Anyway, just wanted you to understand." He advanced again, claws quickly growing. Maxene struggled to get out from under the bookshelf and get away but he was there first. He tossed the bookshelf aside like it was nothing and let out a growl before raising his claws for a final strike.

"No!" Maxene screamed, throwing her hands up in defense. Before Thorn could strike, a bright burst of pink energy shot from Maxene's hands, blasting Thorn back and sending him through a wall. Maxene looked down at her hands. What the fuck? She had powers like Layla.

But how?

Thorn limped out of the hole he had created in the wall, smoke billowing from his body. He glared at Maxene, sizing her up and trying to figure out what exactly had just happened. Maxene glared back at him. She suddenly felt a surge of adrenaline pulsing through her.

She could take this guy.

***

Christian's POV

My eyes were closed and I was prepared for the end. I stood there, hands up in a defensive position. Yeah cause that always helps when big ass blades were flying towards your face. Great logic.

But surprisingly, it worked.

Now this is going to sound weird. Like really weird. The death staff thing had stopped right in front of me. It was like, levitating there in front of my face. I know I know, this is some weird sci-fi shit. I thought so too. So I did what any smart person who survives a sci-fi movie where pointy things are inches away from skewering their face.

I reached out and touched it.

Both sides of staff retracted into what seemed to be a sword handle at the very center of it before levitating into my hands.

And then there was silence.

Ok, sure. Cause this didn't seem shady at all.

"Well shit. It actually works." I spun around to find Richard standing in the doorway. He looked shocked.

"What?" I asked. "What works?" Richard studied me for a minute before speking.

"You really shouldn't be out of your cage piggy." He bared his teeth and shifted into his Eraser form. "I've had enough of you. You're mine you annoying little prick." And with that he lunged at me.


	20. Chapter 19

My mind went into panic mode as Richard's fist connected with me and sent me flying across the room, crash landing on the hard linoleum floor. I coughed s bit as I slowly picked myself up.

"This would've been a great time for those blades to go flying around the room at people," I groaned to myself. Suddenly as if by some sort of magic occurred, one of the blades of the staff shot up as if it was spring loaded. I jumped a bit and once I looked for a second, turned back to Richard and swung.

The blade left a long cut along his chest and he growled in pain trickles of blood started to leak from the wound and rage filled his eyes. Richard let out a roar and charged me. I swung again but this time he knocked the blade out of my hand, sucker punching me into a wall. He grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up, pinning me against the wall.

"That's enough of the child's play kid," he growled. I tried to loosen his grip, my mind racing for ideas on how to get away.

He squeezed harder so I couldn't breathe, his claws digging into my neck as he did.

Claws. Hadn't I just been growing claws in my cage?

As the thought crossed my mind I could feel something sharp growing underneath my skin. Claws. Claws were ripping through my skin and making blood pour from my fingertips as they forced their way out. It was painful as all hell but it brought me some adrenaline.

I swung my claws at Richard, slashing his face and causing him to drop me. He held his face, blood now streaming from his eyes as I gasped for air, taking a minute to regroup.

Then I noticed the hair. Hair growing from my hands and making its way up my arms. My arms began to bulge and I could feel my bones and my muscles growing inside me, making my skin begin to feel tighter and tighter. My face began to change too. I could feel my jaws getting bigger, longer, teeth now sharpening into points. It felt like a new face was tearing through this one and it felt... indescribably painful.

The growing pains began to cease and I looked down at my body. My shirt was torn to shreds, my pants barely staying on. I was strangely muscular now. Muscular and hairy. Hair was covering every inch of my body. Hair that looked similar to Richard's in Eras...

Wait a minute... no, I thought.

"No... am I... am I... ?"

"An Eraser," Richard said suddenly. I looked towards him and saw that I had really fucked up his face. Four claw marks made their way across his face which was now covered in blood. His eyes were red, blood vessels in them exploded and dripping bloody tears. He looked like a nightmare.

"Wow," he laughed. "Looks like you really are one of us. What'll your friends say when they find out?"

"Alright, now I'm done with you," I growled as I lunged at him, taking him down and barreling through a wall. I had questions about how I was suddenly an Eraser but they could wait.

Right now, all I wanted to do was kick his ass.

He was up a lot quicker than I thought he would be, especially considering we just went through a wall. He threw a punch at me, connecting with my jaw. Punch after punch rained down on me and I was suddenly back in my old house. Heath was beating me again for something I'd done. I felt completely powerless for a second until I thought I heard a scream.

Sydney's scream.

Oh God was he going after her too?!

I exploded into a blinding rage and landed an uppercut that put an end to the beating. My claws came out and I blacked out thinking to myself that I would not let him hurt my sister.

* * *

Luna cackled at Layla's screams as the needle again pierced her skin.

"You're doing a lot better than I thought you would," she said to Layla. "Most people I do this to completely lose their shit before I finish, but not you. You're a tough little one aren't you?"

"... get... get off... me... please stop..." Layla gasped. She was hyperventilating, an emotional break threatening to let loose.

"Stop? Why would I do that puddin? We're having so much fun! Besides, I've got other fun things planned for our little girl's night."

Suddenly someone came crashing through the wall, colliding with Luna and knocking her off Layla. Layla took a relieved breath before grabbing a scalpel and cutting through the hair that was binding her face to another.

"Oh my God, Layla are you alright?!" Layla looked for the voice and found Maxene quickly running to her side. "Is that... is that someone's face?"

"Max we have to go. Like, right now," Layla said quickly. She threw Georgie to the ground revealing her now blood caked face.

"Yay!" Luna suddenly cheered from across the room. "More people for our girl's night! We even got ourselves a boy!" Thorn got up, his fur suddenly shifting into what looked to be very sharp looking needles.

"Damnit Luna, focus! Kill them!" he roared as he lunged at the sisters.

"Aww, but I like my playmate!" Luna whimpered with a pout on her face. A big smile suddenly crossed her face. "Oh well, I guess girl's night is over. Now we have the after party!" She then shifted into her Eraser form, giggled and went for Layla's throat.

Pink energy blasted from Maxene's hand, colliding with Luna and sending her flying. She then turned to Thorn who threw a punch, the now very sharp fur grazing Maxene's arm, cutting her in many different places. She screamed, clutching her arm as blood began to run.

That's all it took to piss Layla off.

Thorn raised his arm, claws out and ready to slice Maxene into shreds. As he went to swing, Layla caught his arm with her mind and held it in place. As Thorn struggled to move his arm Maxene blasted him back into a lab table. Layla let out a small but impressed laugh.

"Nice one Max!" Maxene smiled at her sister and advanced on Thorn.

"You two are such good sisters," Luna cooed. "So precious how you're always looking out for each other. Too bad sissy is distracted. She's gonna miss out on all the fun we're about to have."

"Shut up!" Layla screamed. She whirled around fists clenched, ready for a fight. She swung but Luna dodged her attempted punch.

"Too slow!" Layla swung again but this time Luna caught her fist.

"Is that the best you've got hun?" she growled in Layla's face. Layla spit in her face, temporarily blinding her and punching Layla hard in the face. Luna looked shocked, then happy as she started to laugh.

"My turn bitch," she said as she punched Layla in the chest, sending her flying across the room and into a chemical lab station. Layla gasped for air as Luna leapt onto the lab bench. "These look fun!" she said eying the various chemicals. "Let's do a science experiment! Oh we'll be just like Bill Nye the Science Guy! I wonder what they'll do to you once I shove them down your throat." Grabbing some chemicals, Luna advanced on her intended victim as Layla put her hands up in fear, trying to push Luna back with her mind.

Nothing happened. Luna was on top of her now.

"Having trouble there hun?" Luna giggled. "Don't worry, this'll make it all better. Open wide!"

Suddenly two Erasers came crashing through the wall, locked in a fight to the death. Luna jumped back in shock as Layla jumped to her feet, scrambleing for the chemicals. Maybe if I mix these I can create some sort of bomb...

Maxene was sent flying towards the center of the action as Thorn helped Luna up, the two of them ready to end this fight. Layla started mixing as many chemicals as she could before turning to Maxene.

"Max, your powers!" she yelled. "Heads up!" She threw the mixture up in the air and Maxene didn't hesitate to send an energy blast directly at the unstable combination.


	21. Chapter 20

Christian's POV

I woke up suddenly, tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. I hurt. Everywhere. And quite badly. After a couple breaths I slowly laid back down and looked around me. I was in a room. A bedroom to be more exact. No cage. In fact, weirdly enough, I was in a very comfortable bed.

Not that I was complaining but what the hell?

There was a knock at the door which made me jump and the whitecoat who had helped us escape, Oliver I think was his name, walked in.

"Ah I see you've finally woken up. I must say that I was beginning to think you wouldn't." He had a tray of breakfast food with him; eggs, bacon, freaking pancakes. I about jumped out of whoever's bed this was to devour it but I hesitated. I still had no idea what was happening. It could be another test, the food could be poisoned, bacon, screw it.

I sat up slowly, pain still present in my everything. Oliver handed me the food and I scarfed it down, watching him with the eyes of a hawk while I did.

Hey, eyes of a hawk. I could say that and be totally serious now. Cool!

"So," I said, "where exactly am I? Also, what happened? Also again, where are Maxene and Layla? Also once again, what is your secret to making pancakes so damn good?"

Oliver chuckled. "Well actually it the recipe of a friend of mine. She's been helping me to patch the three of you up." He paused for a second and his face got serious. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Why?"

"Just think."

Ok. Weird. But I played along. Maybe something important had happened that I'd missed. I closed my eyes and thought back.

"Uh... we were looking for an exit, I found some sort of sword staff thing, Richard found me, I..." remembering what I had become I hesitated. Should I even bring it up? It was probably a pretty important issue that should be immediately discussed with someone who might understand why my genes were now able to shift to those of a hulking wolf man.

So naturally I skipped over that part.

"Well I fought with him and then there was an explosion. That's it."

"Are you sure?" Oliver asked, clearly not convinced. He knew I was holding something back. "You look like you're not telling me everything."

I hesitated again, studying him. Could I really trust him?

Screw it, he brought me food.

"Alright I might have turned into an Eraser while fighting Richard. I don't know how it happened but somehow I just... my whole body changed." Oliver looked confused more than anything else.

Wait, was that not what he had been talking about?

Clearing his throat, he spoke again, trying not to sound shocked. "Oh. Yes, that... well that's something. Was there, um, anything else?"

"Like what?"

"Like the way you flashed back to your old home, heard your sister's voice," he said, starting to pry a bit now. How he knew that was beyond me and it must've showed because he said quickly, "You talk in your sleep."

"Oh. Right." I let out a breath. "I talked about my sister?"

"You seemed to think that Richard was your father and he was coming for your sister," Oliver said. "This isn't totally uncommon in cases of extreme trauma but considering the girls didn't flash back when you did is odd." He reached for a bag which made me nervous. "Inside here are some tests I'd like you to take. Nothing like the other whitecoats put you through. I believe it might be important to determine if you're healthy or not. You don't mind do you?"

So another experiment that somehow wouldn't be as bad as the other experiments I had endured? I looked through narrow eyes at Oliver for a minute. He seemed to actually be concerned. Maybe he really was trying to help.

"Yeah alright. Why not?"

* * *

"You think he's alright?" Layla asked Maxene with a hint of worry in her voice. "He's been out for like, a week."

"I'm sure he's fine Lay," Maxene replied. "He seems tough."

They were sitting in the living room of the safe house Oliver had picked out. It was a cozy little place that smelled of chocolate chip cookies and vetrinary medicine. A dark haired woman walked out from the kitchen with drinks in her hands, handing them off to the girls who smiled in appreciation.

"Are you two feeling alright? Are the stitches holding up alright?" she asked.

"Yes they are. Thank you so much Dr. Martinez," Layla said with a smile. This woman seemed to be a friend of Oliver's and she had given them temporary refuge, fixed their injuries and fed them real food. Layla trusted her, after reading her mind to be sure she wasn't secretly evil of course.

Her daughter Ella was understandably not sure what to make of four strangers suddenly living in her house but she was still friendly to her new guests. She had started to bond and become friends with Maxene and Layla, sharing with them all the wonders of being a teenage girl that they had never experienced before.

It was a wonderful experience they were having.

"How about yours Wonder?" Dr. Martinez asked Maxene.

Perhaps it was because of the recent traumatic events or maybe it was something else entirely, but something had caused Maxene to completely abandon using her real name. Instead she started calling herself Wonder. Layla didn't really mind. If it made her sister happy, it made her happy too.

"Hm? Oh right! Yeah, the stitches are holding up fine," Wonder said with a grin. "Thank you."

Oliver came out of the room they had laid Christian's unconscious body nearly a week ago followed by a limping Christian.

"Morning," Christian said looking around the house. "Right. First thing's first; where the hell are we?"

"Kingman, Arizona," Dr. Martinez said. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine strange lady, and yourself?"

"Oh yes, Christian this is Dr. Valencia Martinez," Oliver said motioning to the doctor. "She saved your life."

"Oh. Cool. Uh, thanks," Christian muttered, still not completely convinced he could trust her. "Those pancakes your creation?"

"Yes they are," Dr. Martinez said with a smile. "There's plenty left."

"Dibs!" Christian shouted quickly, moving rapidly towards the kitchen. "You let me know if you find anything alright Oliver?"

"Yes of course," Oliver said as he began to study a notebook and some pictures in front of him.


	22. Chapter 21

Days Later

"You ready?" Wonder asked Christian, who was standing at the edge of a fairly high cliff.

"No," he snapped back. "No I'm not. I literally just healed and oh my God did you just try to push me? Chill out with that shit, I'll jump when I'm good and ready to jump... oh shit my head's spinning."

"Oh don't be a baby," Wonder giggled. "It's not that hard. Just do what we told you and you'll be fine."

"How is it that you and Layla already know how to fly?"

"Oliver gave us a few pointers. Now go!" Wonder said as she pushed Christian over the edge.

"Shit!" he screamed as he fell. His wings snapped out and just like that, he was flying through the air. "Holy shit... holy shit I'm fucking doing it! Hell fucking yeah!" Wonder smiled as she watched, though the smile wasn't one of happiness. It was one of someone trying to push their problems deep down so they couldn't feel the pain that came with them.

Now that he was distracted...

Wonder couldn't help it anymore. She reached into her windbreaker (one that Ella had kindly let her borrow) and pulled out a bottle of alcohol, lifting it to her lips and feeling all the stress that she had been feeling recently melt away.

It was the first time she's had a drink in a long time and it was the by far the best she'd ever had.

Until she heard someone walking up behind her.

"Really Max?" Layla groaned behind her. "Why'd you bring that along? You were doing so well giving that crap up. You know you're going to get withdrawal symptoms again now."

"Don't judge me," Wonder snapped. "Just don't ok? I need this."

"No you don't."

"I'm seeing him in my nightmares Layla."

Layla crossed her arms. "Drinking again isn't going to make that stop."

"Yeah but at least it doesn't feel as real. At least it hurts less. Are you sure you can't just erase my memories or something?"

"I would've done it by now if I could," Layla said, trying to put a comforting hand on Wonder's shoulder. Wonder flinched and pulled away from her sister. "I've just never done it before. I have no idea where I'd even start or how to start for that matter. I'm sorry Max."

Wonder let out a sad sigh before changing the subject. "So... anyway... he seems to be enjoying himself," she muttered nodding to Christian who was still in the air. Layla hesitated before deciding it was probably best to just move on.

"Yeah. He seems to be enjoying this whole mutation thing more than us."

"Maybe he didn't have anything left that made it worth being normal," Wonder said. "I don't remember him saying anything about his life before this, do you?"

"... no I don't," Layla said. "Actually the only reason we even know he has a sister is because he talking in his sleep." There was a brief silence before Wonder finally asked what they were both thinking.

"Do you think he's one of them?"

* * *

"This is... concerning." Oliver had studied the results of Christian's test results. They were all different types of psychological tests used to determine mental health, one of these tests being a series of Rorschach ink blots.

And for most of those ink blot photos, the boy had seen some sort of demonic entity. He claimed that one of them was indeed Satan himself.

Although that alone didn't necessarily mean he was insane by any means, he had still hallucinated images of his home life, seeing and hearing things and people who weren't present at the time of the hallucination.

As if that wasn't concerning enough, certain parts of these tests seemed to indicate that he had zero self esteem, a lack of empathy for people in certain situations and a burning hatred for himself and others inside of him.

All traits that had been previously found in serial killers.

It seemed that Christian had many issues that would present problems in the future. Oliver considered the options. He could let the boy live his life, maybe present him with certain ideals that would keep him from committing unspeakable acts of evil that he would be more than capable and more than willing to carry out if he didn't get better. That, or he could simply kill him and avoid any potential violent outbursts. But that wouldn't work.

If the boy had really been combined with the creature Oliver believed he had been, killing him wouldn't solve anything.

No. This was going to have to be dealt with carefully. Perhaps medication would help or perhaps something else. Whatever it was though, Oliver had to find it fast.

* * *

Christian's POV

"So why do you two want to know about my past?" I asked. I don't know what brought this up exactly but for some reason Wonder and Layla had been giving me these looks when I landed. Not exactly friendly looks either. More like sizing me up, preparing for a fight. Then they asked about my life before I had been experimented on.

Weird. Also, that was none of their business and I didn't want to talk about it. So naturally I got a bit defensive.

"You already know about what happened to us," Wonder said. "It's only fair you tell us about your crappy life in return."

"Maybe a better way to phrase that," Layla cut in, "is that we're curious. You know some things about us that we'd honestly rather nobody knew at all but we hardly know anything about you."

"Kay," I started, "that's all fine, but if that's it then why do you two seem so tense? You could've just asked nicely." They glanced at each other before Layla spoke up.

"Right, sorry. Could you please tell us more about yourself?" I shook my head.

"No."

"Why not?" Layla asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Because like the two of you, I'd rather not talk about my shitty past. It might not be as bad as yours but it still keeps up at night."

"Cause that doesn't sound shady," Wonder muttered.

"Well if you want to know so badly then why don't you have Madame X over here read my mind?" I snapped, nodding towards Layla.

"We'd rather you tell us so we know we can trust you," Layla retorted. I stared at her for a second, a bit taken aback.

"So what, you think I'm one of the assholes who experimented on us?" I demanded. "Are you fucking with me?"

"We know virtually nothing about you!" Layla yelled. She had been trying to keep her cool but finally she just gave up. "Just tell us! Make us believe you're not one of them!"

"Fuck you both," I growled. My wings snapped out and I took off.


	23. Chapter 22

I flew through the desert for awhile aimlessly as I tried to cool off. They thought I was one of those assholes? Really? Did Oliver tell them about my Eraser side or something? What the actual fuck?!

Finally I turned around and started heading back. Maybe I was over reacting. I admit, not knowing almost anything you're in a life or death situation with might concern me a bit too.

I landed near an abandoned warehouse. I didn't want to go back quite yet. I decided to just breathe for a second and relax. I'd go back and apologise later.

"I told you not to tell anybody about my little situation with Ortiz," a guy's voice suddenly rang out. He sounded close and he sounded pissed. "It was none of your business. I had to teach him a lesson."

Oooo drama. Christian is curious. I listened as I followed the voices.

"By beating him up? He looks like he got hit by a car. And he didn't do anything to you," a girl's voice shot back. Her voice sounded familiar and when I turned the corner I realized why.

It was Ella, Dr. Martinez' daughter. And she looked like she was in a heaping pile of shit.

Three boys who looked about three maybe four years older than her had her cornered. One of them was holding a shotgun. Why did they need a shotgun to talk aggressively to a girl who was only like, twelve, maybe thirteen? Especially since there were three of them.

Whatever. Not important. The important thing was that Ella was probably going to die if I didn't do something, like NOW.

"So, Ella, what have you got to say for yourself? Is there any reason I shouldn't teach you a lesson too?" one of them was saying as I tuned back in. I reached down and found my own gun safely holstered against my right side. It wouldn't exactly even the playing field but it was a start.

"Three guys against one girl," I heard suddenly. "That seems about even." Another girl was walking up behind Ella. She had blonde hair and her face was scratched up, with a fresh looking black eye. She looked like she meant business. One of the boys snapped at her.

"Shut up chick. You better get out of here if you know what's good for you." She didn't seem intimidated.

"Can't. Actually, I think kicking your stupid butts would be good for me." The boys laughed.

"Grab Big Mouth," the one who seemed to be the leader ordered. The other two went to flank the new girl but she didn't budge. She kicked the leader in the chest and I swore I heard a rib break. The others rushed her but she grabbed the shotgun before they had a chance to use it and used it to crack open the head of its former owner. The third guy grabbed her but she swung around and punched him hard in the nose, clearly breaking it.

Damn. What a badass.

As I watched Ella run to safety I felt relieved. Now that that's taken care of...

But of course it wasn't.

The sound of a shotgun being cocked made me spin back around to see one of the boys now had the gun aimed at the badass chick. She knew she was in trouble and began to run. Smart. Except the boys were all up now and they were chasing her into the woods.

"Shit," I muttered as I followed them.

BANG!

Those assholes were shooting at her.

Oh shit, they're actually gonna kill her!

I ran faster. Maybe I could get to them before they put a shell in the poor girl and when I caught a glimpse of the four of them in front of me, I actually had some hope.

BANG!

I watched as they fired again and saw the girl go down. They'd done it. They'd actually shot her. I stood there for a second, staring at them in shock. They kept going, searching for the girl so they could finish the job.

Those fuckers.

They kept moving but I'd seen enough. They weren't going to find her again and they were not going to hurt her anymore. Hell, they might not even be walking out of these woods after I got to them.

After a minute I had caught up with them and had cut them off.

"What the..." They seemed surprised that someone else had been following them through the woods. I didn't blame them. That was super creepy.

"Who the hell are you?" the lead douche demanded.

"I'm the guy who just watched you gun down some girl," I growled. I whipped out my own gun, pointing it at them before they had a chance to lift theirs. "Not fucking cool."

"Hey look man, you better get out of here and forget you saw anything. If you know what's good for you," the leader said.

"That right?" I said not budging an inch. The leader laughed.

"In case you hadn't noticed, there's three of us and only one of you. Plus," he said as one of his friends raised the gun, "our gun is a lot bigger than your little peashooter there."

"Yeah, it is. Clearly compensation for something," I said, unimpressed. "Trust me boys, the three of you are a lot more fucked then I am. Put it down or I'll have to use this peashooter when to be perfectly honest, I'd much rather just kick your asses the good old fashioned way." The leader just let out an annoyed snort.

"Just shoot him," he told his friend. I fired before his friend even got time to process what he was just told to do.

The shotgun fell to the ground as the guy who had just been holding it got two bullets placed in his hands. He screamed in pain and I lept into action. The other two charged me but their attacks were easy to dodge - a lot easier than I expected - and I had punched their stupid faces into the dirt in seconds. Having taken out the leader and one of his goons, I kicked the guy with the holes square in the face for good measure.

I walked back to the lead douche and kneeled next to him with his now broken and bloody face.

"I warned you," I growled to him. "Remember that." I snapped out my wings and took off.

It was getting dark. Time to head back and apologize.


	24. Chapter 23

"Maximum Ride has been sighted in Arizona along with two members of her group," Hayley said. "Sorry for doubting you Director Caulfield. Should we send Richard to dispatch them?"

"If you don't mind my saying," Richard spoke up, "after the way the other three freaks escaped, I would be happy to kill Maximum and her friends."

"No Richard," Caulfield said as she stood. "Ari and the other Erasers can handle them. We need you for something else. Follow me please."

They followed Caulfield through the winding hallways and into another building. It's halls smelled of death and upon entering, the terrified screams of children greeted them along with the the sounds of those children being torn limb from limb seconds later. No matter though. Those children were rejects, good for nothing wastes of space that had no business living in the coming New World. They were however a suitable food source for the more capable beings.

Caulfield motioned them into a room at the end of the hallway. Inside were six people who, judging from the scents Richard was picking up from each of them, were all Erasers. No wait. Richard looked at each of them and saw something was different about them.

They had powers. Just like him.

"Richard, this is your unit. We're placing you in charge of these six," Caulfield said. "Tell me, what's special about each of them?" Richard focused his attention to the six in front of him. He could tell what powers any experiment had just by looking at them and some of them were impressive.

"Him," he said pointing at the smallest. "He's telepathic. He can read, control and even erase minds."

"He is ironically called Alpha," Caulfield said. "Ironic because he is physically the weakest among the others, as well as very shy. We expect you to turn him into a warrior."

"I will. Those two have very similar abilities. The one on the right can turn his fur into something similar to porcupine quills, making it extremely sharp. Easy to cut through flesh. The one on the right can turn his teeth and his claws metallic and sharp enough to cut through nearly anything with ease."

"Very good," Caulfield said. "The one on the right is Thorn, due to his fur. On the left, Pierce."

"They chose their names?"

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

Richard chuckled. "Of course not. They just sound like names a middle schooler would come up with."

"What about the remaining three?" Caulfield asked, clearly ignoring Richard's comments about his new unit.

"The big one," Richard said pointing to the largest man in the room. "In his Eraser form he can turn his skin into metal."

"That is Dmitri Kozlov, a Russian prisoner we got from Black Garden Prison. He has done time in some of the hardest prisons on Earth for countless brutal murders. He doesn't have emotions, he doesn't have morals and he doesn't show remorse. He does however take orders well."

"Good to know. Him. He can absorb and use different variations of energy against his enemies."

"Gamma. Yes he picked the name. Keep your comments to yourself. He has no special background, just a child we picked up."

"I see." Richard studied the remaining Eraser, a girl with hatred burning in her eyes. "She's interesting. She draws more strength and agility from the moon. She hasn't discovered it yet but she's able to manipulate magnetism. She could use metal in any way she pleases."

"Ah yes, her." Caulfield let out a breath and continued. "That's Luna. She is clinically insane. She has massacred countless numbers of the rejects and even some of our own. However, she doesn't simply kill them. She plays games with her victims before and after killing them. She plays with their corpses, draws with their blood, cuts off and makes friends with their faces, and that's not even the worst part. She is very sexually charged and often seduces her victims and has sex with them before killing them. Not only that but she's also a cannibal. During intercourse she has been known to devour her victims. After she's killed them and made friends with their severed faces, she eats the bodies. She's unstable and frankly, I wouldn't complain if she got killed in the field."

"Unstable or not," Richard said, his stomach doing back flips. "She has the potential to destroy the enemy mentally in ways that none of us, not even the telepath could think of. She might be a useful member."

"It's your unit," Caulfield said. "Your pack as you might say. Now, your assignment. Experiment 13, 14 and 15. Your pack is to deal with them in whatever way you see fit. They present a threat to us as long as they're free. Although we would prefer it if you brought 14 and 15 back alive for future testing, we understand if you're forced to kill them."

"What about 13?" Richard asked.

"He's discovering his powers and will soon become far too dangerous to bring back here," Caulfield replied. "If you encounter him, kill him on sight."

Richard smiled. "It would be my pleasure."


	25. Chapter 24

Richard walked forward and his pack's attention turned to him.

"Yay!" Luna yelled. "Another boy! I could just eat him up! Couldn't you Georgie?" She lifted a severed face to her ear, giggling every once in awhile. "Oh Georgie stop it. You don't think he'd want to do that to us do you?" Luna gazed at Richard, sizing him up. "Well maybe. Big boy like him would be so much fun don't you think?"

"That's enough," Richard growled. "As I assume you all know, you are now taking orders from me."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Pierce suddenly spoke up. "Who the hell put your roided ass in charge?"

"Yeah," Thorn agreed. "Didn't you let Experiment 13 escape?"

"Didn't you let the other two escape?" Richard fired back. Thorn growled but didn't respond.

"The stupid American dogs bring up good point. Why should we follow you?" Kozlov asked in a deep Russian accent.

"Not only was I placed in charge by Director Caulfield," Richard said, "but I also know each of your backgrounds and your powers, giving me a significant advantage over each of you."

"As if," Pierce grunted.

"If you don't believe me then please, feel free to attack me," Richard said, glaring right through Pierce. Pierce let out a snort, not intimidated. However, as he rose to challenge Richard, the glare placed fear into his heart. Those eyes were cold and calculating, the eyes of a ruthless killer. Pierce wasn't known for being a saint by any means but the eyes staring at him - staring through him in fact - made him sit back down and cower away.

"Alright man," Pierce said. "You got it. I'll follow."

"Anyone else feeling brave?" Richard asked. He scanned the room, his eyes landing on the pipsqueak known as Alpha. "How about you?" Alpha's expression turned to that of absolute terror.

"Me?" he squeaked. There was a slight chuckle from Kozlov who seemed to be enjoying Richard's tactics of intimidation.

"Yes. You." Richard got down on one knee, bringing himself down to Alpha's level. Alpha tensed up and cowered away. "Oh come on, at least Pierce had the balls to stand up to me before he became my bitch. What's your name kid?"

Alpha muttered his name very quietly.

"I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that," Richard said. "Speak up when I tell you to speak boy. Now, what was your name again?"

"A-A- Alpha," the boy said. "Sir! Alpha sir."

"Alpha. Tell me boy, what have you done to deserve that name?" Alpha was silent. "Nothing? So why do you have such a name? I've supplied this company with fresh test subjects for years. I've been the executioner for the failures that have been produced. I have dealt with anyone who poses a threat to the Director and her work! You have done absolutely nothing. You are no Alpha. I'M the Alpha male here! Understand?!" Alpha nodded, trying to hold back tears. Unsatisfied, Richard grabbed Alpha and rammed his knee into the boy's stomach. Alpha fell to the ground gasping for air.  
r  
"WHAT was that boy?!" Richard roared, his fangs starting to come out.

"Y-y-y-yes si-sir," Alpha struggled to say.

"Let this be an example to all of you," Richard growled at the others. "This boy could be any of you. Disobey me, piss me off in any way, I will make you wish you were dead. I'll break every bone in your bodies if I have to. I will beat respect into each one of you if I must. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes sir," the others all said.

"Good," Richard said. "Now, be ready to leave in five minutes. We have experiments to hunt." He turned and made his way out of the room, being sure to step on Alpha as he went.


	26. Chapter 25

Christian's POV

I landed in the shadows outside Dr. Martinez's house, making sure nobody had seen me. As I walked up the driveway I couldn't help but think back to those guys I'd just beaten to hell and left in the woods. Sure they deserved an ass kicking but did I take it too far?

No. No I didn't. They killed a girl. That justifies what I did. I ran the mental image of that girl going down when she had been shot. Over and over again it played out in my head as I kept telling myself that I had done the right thing. No big deal. I'm sure they'd make it through the woods when they woke up.

I entered the house, greeted again by that heavenly smell of chocolate. Ella was sitting in the living room with her dog Magnolia. Cute little thing. I started looking around for Layla, Wonder, Oliver or all three if possible. Nowhere to be found. I almost asked Ella but she had been through a lot tonight. Probably better to ask her mom anyway.

"Thank you officer," Dr. Martinez said before hanging up the phone. She put her hands up to her face and exhaled deeply.

"Hey doc," I said, causing her to jump. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You alright?"

"Christian, hi," she said quickly. "I'm fine. Ella just... ran into some trouble tonight."

"That's a shame. I hope she's alright," I said. Well at least she's better than the other guys. "Have you seen Oliver, Wonder or Layla around?"

"They decided to go stay in a hotel. Oliver was concerned that they might've been a burden."

"Oh. Right. Do you know which hotel?"

"I think a Best Western. I have the address."

"That's helpful thanks." So they were trying to leave me behind now? Great. Just great.

* * *

I flew to the hotel in a couple minutes. This whole background thing was really this important? Fuck me. I thought I had trust issues.

I flew around the building peering into windows trying to find them. That was a mistake. I think I saw a little too much of certain people's personal lives playing out in front of me and after seeing a fifth guy jerking it to some really disgusting looking porn, I decided to just listen. I did after all have better hearing now.

That wasn't all that much better because enhanced hearing means, well, you can hear what everyone is doing too. Gross. I was gonna need a shower after this. But on the bright side, at least I finally found them. I did my best to kind of awkwardly hover outside the window as I listened.

"He's an Eraser?! Oliver why didn't you tell us that earlier?!" Wonder was shouting.

Thanks a lot Oliver.

"He's not a hundred percent Eraser," Oliver said. "He may have the DNA - God knows how he got that grafted into his genetic code - but he was still tortured by the same people you were tortured by. He was taken away from his family as well. He's suffered at the hands of Itex just as much as you have."

"Or maybe that's what he wants us to believe," Wonder said. "Maybe he's actually one of them."

Ok, that still kinda hurt to hear. If I was one of them then why would I help escape?

"Look, he isn't like any Eraser out there," Oliver said. "Believe me, he's not one of them."

"Says the guy who helped turn innocent children into freaks of nature!" Wonder shouted again. "How can we trust you? You still think their doing some good in the world! You want to go back to them!"

"They are doing good! I admit, their methods are questionable, but what Itex is doing is for the good of the world!" Oliver shouted back. Then in a quieter voice, "It has to be. It just has to be."

They kept talking but something else had gotten my attention. I had put my hands on the glass panes of the hotel window while I had been listening and suddenly those panes were getting really hot. Looking down I saw the my hands and the glass were glowing orange, small streams of smoke billowing out from between the panes and my hands.

Then the window began to melt around my hands.


	27. Chapter 26

**Christian's POV**

Can you imagine the shock of seeing your window melting and a guy with wings hovering (or at least trying to) outside what was now the square hole in your wall?

Well it must've been pretty damn terrifying, cause Wonder didn't hesitate to fire a pink energy beam directly at me. I folded in my wings and let myself drop a foot or two, catching myself before I fell too far. The energy blast missed.

I raised my hands slightly above the window sill in surrender.

"Ok ok! You got me!" I yelled. "Sorry about the window!"

"Christian!" I heard Layla say. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Looking for you guys!" I said. "Dr. Martinez told me you went to a hotel. The fuck guys? You were really gonna leave me behind?"

"We weren't sure if we could trust you," Layla said.

"Alright everyone just chill for a minute ok? I'm coming up." One good flap of my wings and I was sitting on the window sill. "First of all, I admit that I lost my cool and said some things I shouldn't have," I said. "I'm sorry about that, it was pretty rude and not really a good reason to get angry. Second, I guess if it's really so important to you I could tell you guys a bit more about myself. Everyone cool with that or is it too late?"

Wonder and Layla exchanged glances. "Alright fine," Wonder said. "Go ahead."

So I told them about my past. My mother dying, my father becoming cruel, the constant beatings, the way my sister had been treated differently, Marcus, the kidnapping, the experimentation and everything else I could think of. A silence followed that seemed to go on for hours.

These three now knew more about my life than I was comfortable with them knowing.

"I'm so sorry," Layla said.

"I... yeah me too," Wonder muttered.

"I may have overheard Oliver telling you about how I can become an Eraser," I said, sending a dirty look in Oliver's direction. "I'm sorry I didn't mention that either I just, well, I wasn't sure how to tell you without all this happening. But believe me when I say that I am not one of them. Any side that asshole Richard is on is a side I want no part of. Also the whole experimenting on children thing isn't cool so no thanks."

Wonder and Layla glanced at each other again. They appeared to be in the middle of a conversation. I guess they were telepathically deciding if I had a place with them. Fun. I loved not hearing what people were saying about me.

"Alright," Wonder said after a couple minutes. "I'm still not convinced that you're not one of them, but Layla seems to trust you. Fine. We can all stick together but I'm watching you. Remember that."

"Yes ma'am," I replied, putting my hands up slightly and pretending to be scared. Wonder narrowed her eyes at me. Ok, too soon for sarcasm. Got it.

"You melted your way right through the window," Oliver suddenly spoke, examining the hole I had left. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know," I said. "I was out there eavesdropping, I had my hands on the glass and suddenly it started melting."

"You do realize that glass melts at a temperature of between fourteen and sixteen degrees Celsius, yes?" Oliver said.

"How hot is that?" I asked. Give me a break, I don't know the conversion between Celsius and Fahrenheit. Oliver sighed.

"It's between two thousand five hundred and fifty and two thousand nine hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit," he said. "You have no idea how you did it?" I shook my head.

"Like I said before." Oliver looked pretty concerned as he studied the melted glass.

"Bien merde," Oliver muttered. "He actually did it. Fous de la baise!"

"Who did what now?" I said confused.

"Oliver, what's going on?" Wonder asked.

"What?" he said, clearly not tuned in. "Oh. No. It's nothing. Just one of my colleagues has done something rather stupid."

"One of your colleagues?" I repeated. "You're not seriously still working for those assholes are you? You said yourself that you don't like their methods, that they tortured us to turn us into what we are now!"

"Itex is doing those things for the sake of humanity!" Oliver demanded. "It's just this one colleague! He's lost his mind - "

"You can't really believe that!" Wonder yelled, cutting him off.

"He doesn't," Layla said suddenly. "Not anymore at least. Oliver you know what they're doing is wrong. It's not for the sake of humanity, it's..." Layla paused, suddenly looking horrified. "Oh my God. It's not for the sake of humanity, it's for the sake of humanity's extinction."

"Those crazy fucks want to wipe out the human race?" Wonder said in shock. "Why? Aren't they human too?"

"Yes," Oliver sighed. "Yes they're human. They want to repopulate the Earth with a more, well, evolved race. Hence why the three of you were created. You three were going to be part of this race, and Christian was meant to be one of the warriors who helped to end humanity."

"I what?" Ok this was starting to sound... weird. Really bad but also really weird.

"The colleague I spoke of," Oliver said. "He had an idea about a certain group of warriors. Special warriors. Ones with abilities that no other experiment or human could have a chance of combating. And as an experiment, he made you one of those warriors."

"So what, I'm like a more birdy like Superman?" I asked. "Dude, I don't even know how to fight, or control any powers I have. Hell, I don't even know all the powers I have!"

"Yes I know. You were supposed to be trained by them but I couldn't let it happen. Now that I know you were one of his test subjects, I'm glad I helped break you out." Oliver ran his hands through his hair. "There's two options. Either I kill you - "

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I shouted, interrupting him. "Kill me? Oliver there's no need to get violent!"

"Oh really?" he said. He turned on the television as a news story was breaking.

 _"Three boys were found dead in the woods tonight, badly beaten and one having been shot in the hand. Police - "_

He put the tv on mute and glared at me.

"What?" I growled. "Why would I do that?" The screen showed the faces of the three boys. It was the three who had been threatening Ella, who had shot that other girl, who I had beaten up...

Oh shit.

"Ok I can explain that. "They were attacking Ella and shot another girl so I decided to beat them up a bit. That's it! I swear I didn't mean to kill them!"

"This is what I was afraid of," Oliver said. "Your test results revealed some disturbing information about you Christian. You're borderline insane. What was he thinking, giving such powers to an unstable child with no remorse!"

"I have remorse!" I shouted. "In case you didn't hear me, they fucking shot a girl!"

"No other bodies were found Christian."

"Then they didn't search hard enough!"

"No, they searched long and hard! You hallucinated again!"

"No... no I didn't. It was too real."

"Oh really? And that hallucination back when you fought Richard, how real was that?"

Ok. He had me there. Maybe I really was crazy.

"Listen," Oliver said. "It doesn't matter anyway because killing you won't do anything. All I can do now is - Lord help me - is to train you, all of you, to be better than them in a moral sense as well as in a physical sense. Once I've done that I must return to Itex."

"Wait you're still going back?!" Layla said in disbelief. "After everything we just talked about? You still think you need to go back? You're still in such denial that you want to go back and help orchestrate the genocide of the human race?"

"Not all of them are bad people!" Oliver screamed. "I'm not a bad person!"

"We know you're not!" Wonder said, trying to sound comforting. "It's the rest of them. The ones that are experimenting on children."

"You don't understand," Oliver said, tears welling up in his eyes. "I helped them commit these atrocities. I've experimented on children just as they have, I'm responsible for so many deaths, so many ruined lives and broken families. It has to have been for some good. Itex has to be doing something good after all this. Otherwise I'm nothing more than a monster." Silence filled the room as we all let that sink in. Oliver wiped his eyes and took a breath, collecting himself.

"You did do some good," I said finally. "You broke us out. I think that's a step towards redemption. You want to train us to fight against these assholes? I'm down. Let's take these fuckers out."

Oliver looked at me, a smirk growing on his face.

"If you're up for it, we can start tomorrow," he said. "Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I really need to get to sleep. There's another bed behind that door. You can figure out who gets it between yourselves. Goodnight."

We shuffled out of Oliver's sleeping quarters and into the next room.

"Rock, paper, scissors to see who gets the bed?" I suggested.

"No," Wonder said. "We get the bed. You can sleep on the floor."

"Hey look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about how I can turn into an Eraser alright? I'm sorry I wasn't exactly open about my past. Can we just move past that please?"

"No. No we can't just move past it," Wonder snapped. "We can stick together for now, but I still don't trust you. And I'm warning you now, the second you show any signs of betraying us or do something insane like kill someone else, I'll beat your ass into the ground. I don't care if you were made to destroy the world, you take one step out of line and you're not going to be with us anymore. Got it?"

"Got it," I said. "So is it out of line to ask for a pillow? Maybe a blanket?"

Wonder's eyes narrowed as she reluctantly threw me a pillow and blanket, slamming the door in my face and leaving me alone in the hotel room's small living room.

"Sweet dreams to you too," I muttered.


	28. Chapter 27

Kingman, Arizona. What a shit hole this place was. So much of a shit hole that most people wouldn't bother looking here for the lost freaks. Richard grinned slightly. That was smart on their part. Not smart enough though. Their scents were all over this awful town. Theirs, and a couple other... interesting scents. Oliver Fulton was here with them. The telepathic bitch must've gotten to him, made him aid in their escape. Richard would deal with that later. The other scent that had caught his nose was that of a certain mutant who had escaped long before these other freaks.

Maximum Ride was here. That could present a problem. If so, Richard would happily rip her to shreds himself.

No. She wasn't The Pack's target. And if Itex knew she was here, Ari and his pathetic minions would probably show up to deal with her soon. Richard rolled his eyes at the thought of Ari and turned his attentions back to the task at hand.

"They're here," he said to his Pack. "I don't know where exactly, but they're here. I can smell them everywhere. We'll split up and search for them in different sectors of the town. Radio in once you've found any of them. Understand?" Everyone nodded.

"Good. Split up."

* * *

"Man, fuck that guy," Pierce growled. "Fucking prick thinks he's hot shit. 'I'm Richard and I say they're in the town! Let's split up and make it easier for them to kill all of us!' What does he think we fucking are, pawns in his little game of chess? Well fuck that! He wants to bring these freaks in so he'll get rewarded by the director, maybe some pussy from that Harding chick? Fuck that. I say we kill these little shits and pin it on his stupid ass!"

"Pierce would you shut up?" Thorn groaned. "Seriously man. You don't like Richard? Fine. I'm not exactly a huge fan either, but stop your bitching about him!"

"Oh come on dude! Wouldn't you just love to see him get gassed or something? Kill the shits and he gets the gas chamber! We could make it happen!"

"You're crazier than Luna if you think he'd let us live after pulling something like that. We'd be dead before we could even blink."

"Dude..."

"Drop it Pierce. It's a bad plan. Besides, we're here."

The two had arrived at a local veterinary clinic. There was a very avian like scent coming from the place and they decided to check it out. They pulled up and got out of the car they also "borrowed".

"Do I look professional enough?" Thorn asked. They had... "borrowed" some suits from a local shop that seemed to be getting ready for Prom season. They looked as though they were from the FBI or some other government lap dog institution. It was a perfect disguise. Peirce gave the thumbs up and they went in.

"How can I help you gentlemen?" asked the woman at the front counter.

"Could you tell us where the lead doctor here is?" Thorn said in the sweetest voice he could conjure up.

"She's with an intern right now," the woman said. "May I ask what this is about?"

"We're with law enforcement," Peirce said, doing his best to copy Thorn's voice. "It's about those boys who were found in the woods recently. We really would love to speak to the head doctor."

"Oh that," the woman said with a sad frown. "Such a tragedy to have three young boys ripped away like that..."

"Yeah, damn shame," Thorn agreed.

"But as I said before, she's with an intern at the moment," the woman said. "If you gentlemen have questions, you may feel free to wait."

"Look, I don't think you get it," Peirce said. "People's lives could be at stake here. We really just need to see the head doctor."

"Well then I'm afraid you'll just have to wait," the woman said again, annoyance in her voice.

"What about 'people's lives could be at stake' don't you understand lady?" Peirce growled. "You never know, whatever killed those boys might be coming for you next."

"I-is that a threat?!" the woman asked in shock.

"Just get the damn doctor out here!" Peirce said a bit loudly.

"What's going on here?" another woman's voice said, sounding outraged. "This is a doctor's office!"

"Sorry, ma'am," Thorn started to say, but she other woman cut him off.

"Doctor!" she snapped.

"Sorry, doctor," Peirce said, his voice calm again. "Forgive us for interrupting. There's nothing to be concerned about. We're with local law enforcement."

"We're looking for anything unusual," Thorn said with a smile. "Just a precaution. I'm afraid I can't tell you more than that." The doctor paused, thinking.

"Unusual like what?" she said. "A double rainbow? Gas that's less than a buck fifty? Sugar-free soda that actually tastes good?"

"No," Peirce said. "Unusual people, for instance. Strangers in the neighborhood. Children or teenagers that you don't know or look suspicious. Or unusual animals, even."

"I'm a veterinary surgeon. To tell you the truth, I usually don't look at my patients' owners much. And I haven't seen any strangers around. As for unusual animals, last week I treated a cow that had a bicornuate uterus. She had a healthy calf on each side. Does that help?"

Oh. Ok then. They certainly hadn't been expecting that answer.

"Um..." Thorn was at a loss for words.

"If you gentlemen will excuse me, I have a business to run. The way out is through that door."

Thorn regained his composure. "If you do see or hear anything unusual, here's a number for you to call. Thanks for your time. Sorry to disturb you."

Thorn and Pierce left, still not really sure what to say.

"Well," Peirce said after a couple minutes of silence. "That was a bit too much information."

"Yeah," Thorn said, chuckling slightly. "I think we can rule her out. Those freaks wouldn't last living in the same house as that bitch."

"Now where do we go?" Peirce asked. Before Thorn could answer, their walkie suddenly came to life.

"Hey, uh, everyone who can hear this, it's Alpha and Gamma. Uh, we found them. They're in the woods where those kids were found dead."

"We hear you kid," Thorn said into the walkie. "We're not too far from your location. Be there in a couple minutes."

* * *

Thorn and Peirce rolled up behind Alpha and Gamma's car, finding the other two inside, watching the freaks with binoculars. Thorn walked up to the driver side window, knocking. Gamma glanced over and rolled it down before looking back towards the freaks.

"What's going on?" Thorn asked.

"It looks like they're testing out their abilities," Gamma said. "Oliver Fulton is with them. It looks like he's teaching them."

"Are you serious?" Thorn said.

"Yes."

"Do you think it's the telepath?" Thorn asked.

"It's not," Alpha said from the passenger seat. Thorn glared at him and the kid cowered away. "I mean... I checked. Scanned his mind I mean. There's, uh, there's no telepathy at work."

"So he's working with them out of the good of his heart then?" Thorn growled. "Wait till Caulfield hears this."

"What do you think?" Gamma asked. "Wait for the others or take them now?"

"We outnumber them," Thorn said. "What the hell, let's just grab em now. Element of surprise and everything."

"How do you propose we surprise them?"

"That depends. How good is your driving?"

* * *

 **Christian's POV**

"This isn't working," I said. "Maybe we should try gasoline or something?"

"We're not dousing your hand in gasoline," Oliver said.

"Hey if he's willing," I heard Wonder mutter.

"Maxene," Layla groaned.

"What? I didn't suggest it," Wonder said defensively.

"You do know I have a gun on me, right?" I said.

"Oh so now you're gonna shoot me?" Wonder said.

"I didn't say that," I said. "You sure were quick to suggest it though."

"Are you trying to turn that on me?" Wonder said with a smirk. "You didn't even set it up right."

"Both of you shut up," Oliver said. "Christian, if you're able to melt through glass with your bare hands, it's entirely possible that you might be able to create fire as well. Give it another go, yes?"

"I'm no Human Torch, Oliver," I said. "I don't even know how I got my hands that hot."

"Well maybe it had something to do with what you were feeling at the time," Oliver suggested. "Which begs the question, what were you feeling at that time?"

"Well I wasn't exactly happy about you guys talking about me behind my back," I muttered.

"Sorry about that," Layla said. "If it makes you feel any better, we think you're alright now. Mostly."

"Speak for yourself," Wonder said.

"So you were feeling annoyed, angered maybe," Oliver said. "Perhaps it has something to do with your temper."

"My temper?"

"Yes, your temper."

"So should I just have a temper tantrum then?" I asked. "Oh hey! Wonder can finally use her mouth for something useful!"

"Bite me," she growled.

"Telling the wolf man to bite you. Not a good plan sweetheart," I shot back.

"Fuck you!" Wonder snapped.

"Fuck you back!" I snapped back.

" _O pour l'amour de baise_!" Oliver shouted. "You two! Separate! Now! My God, you're like children bickering back and forth!" He was pissed, and rightfully so. However, I was a bit more concerned with the sight of a van speeding towards us.

"Uh, hey Oliver..." I started.

"No! I don't want to hear excuses from either of you!" he shouted.

"It's not that," I said pointing. Wonder and Layla looked in the direction I was pointing and, seeing the car, snapped out their wings and took to the air. Oliver watched them, confused, before turning and seeing the van for himself.

"It's that," I said, grabbing him and snapping my own wings out. We took to the air just before the van drove through where we had just been standing.

As soon as we landed I let Oliver go. "Those the guys we're supposed to fight?"

"I believe so, yes," Oliver said.

"Alrighty then," I said. "Get the hell out of here. I'll catch up later."

"You can't!" Oliver said. "Christian, you have no idea what you're dealing with!"

And with that I didn't listen to Oliver and flew back towards the van of crazies.


	29. Chapter 28

**Christian's POV**

I flew back over and landed as silently as I could in the branches above the van. To my surprise, Wonder and Layla were already staring down the crazies. There were four of them, all looking like Erasers.

"Ready for round two?" one of them asked Wonder.

"Pretty sure we kicked your ass in round one," she said. "The real question here is are you ready?"

 _Oh boy, she's gonna kick their asses_ , I thought, silently laughing at these idiots. I don't think they really knew what they were dealing with here.

"Hey guys," the smallest one said hesitantly. "There's, uh, there's another one in the trees."

Well shit, they saw me. I jumped down, flapping my wings just enough that I wouldn't go plummeting to my death. That would be embarrassing. I landed right between them and the girls.

"Well hello," the one who had been talking to Wonder said.

"Sup?" I said back. "Who are you and why did you try to hit us?"

"Thorn. That's Peirce, Gamma, and this is Alpha," he said pointing at the smallest one, who looked a bit confused.

"Wait, no," Alpha said. "No wait, guys, that's not..."

"Shut up kid, these are the targets," Thorn growled. Alpha stopped talking but kept scanning the trees, clearly afraid of something. Thorn turned his attention back to me. "Full disclosure," he said. "We're supposed to bring the girls back. You on the other hand, we've been ordered to kill. Nothing personal, just orders."

"Yeah, that makes me feel so much better," I said. "Look are we gonna just stand here talking all day or are you dicks gonna do what you came here to do?"

"Well if you want to die that badly," Thorn said, his body starting to change into that of an Eraser, and his fur starting to look like knives. Peirce started to shift as well, claws coming out and teeth bared, both shining like freshly made steel.

Thorn and Peirce lunged at me, forcing me to jump back and start shifting into my Eraser form. They weren't gonna kill me without a fight.

* * *

As Thorn and Peirce lunged at Christian, Layla put her hand up, ready to stop them if necessary.

Until she suddenly felt as though something was exploding in her head.

 _Sorry about this_ , a disembodied voice said. _I can't let you do that._

Layla fell to her knees, clutching her head.

"Layla?" Wonder said, worry in her voice. "Layla, what's wrong?"

Layla didn't answer. Everything was being drowned out. The voice of her sister, the fight between Christian and the two Erasers who seemed bent on killing him, until everything disappeared, leaving Layla alone in the woods.

Alone, except for the smallest Eraser, Alpha.

"What the hell is going on?" Layla demanded.

 _Sorry_ , Alpha's disembodied voice said again. _Really, I am. But this is my job. I'm supposed to keep you busy so you can't help your friends out._

"How are you doing that?" Layla asked. "It's like you're talking from everywhere at once. How...?"

 _You don't know? We're inside your head. We can talk with our minds here._

"Well stop it. I've already had enough of this little mind game of yours."

 _The mind game hasn't even started yet. I'm... I really am sorry for this._

"For what?"

 _Let's see what kind of terrible things we can dig up._

Suddenly the trees and the ground started spewing out red liquid, like blood, quickly filling the woods. Layla snapped out her wings and tried to take off but found herself held down by tree roots that had grown around her feet. The blood converged on her and quickly consumed Layla.

Then the memories came rushing back, suffocating her, crushing her under their weight.

Layla gasped for breath but found nothing but the bloody sea of dread around her.

 _This one seems extra painful... I'm sorry._

* * *

Wonder tried waking her sister up, but to no avail. Instead of waking, Layla seemed to be choking.

"Layla!" Wonder shook her sister but nothing happened.

"Looks like your sister is having some fun with the runt," someone said. Wonder turned to see Gamma standing behind her. "Don't worry, Alpha will take good care of her."

"Alpha?" Wonder looked back at Alpha, who was sitting against the van, eyes closed.

"He's a more powerful telepath than your sister could ever hope to be," Gamma laughed. "Let's leave them to play their games huh? I wanna see what you can do anyway."

Wonder didn't hear him. She watched Alpha, rage suddenly taking over. That son of a bitch was doing something to her sister's mind. He was gonna pay for that. Wonder got up and began walking towards Alpha when Gamma grabbed her arm.

"Oh no you don't," he said. "You'll have to get through me if you want the runt."

Pink energy rocketed from Wonder's hand, blasting Gamma back into a tree, nearly crashing right through it. Turning back towards Alpha, Wonder raised her hand again, the pink energy ready to fire once more. Or at least until she heard Gamma laughing.

"That was good," he chuckled. "I bet I can do better." Wonder turned to see him raising his hand, green energy radiating from his palm. Suddenly a blast of green came rushing towards Wonder, who fired back her own energy to block it. The two colors collided, exploding on contact and taking down a few trees.

Gamma was still laughing.

"Go ahead," he said, shifting into his Eraser form. "Take another shot. I'm craving another shot of energy."

"What the hell are you?" Wonder asked.

"I'm an energy manipulator," he said. "But you can just call me, your death."


	30. Chapter 29

**Christian's POV**

Well this wasn't going very smoothly.

Thorn swiped his claws at me and I dodged pretty easily, but when I threw a punch as a counter attack, his fur stabbed right through my fist. I drew my fist back in pain, blood dripping from the flesh covered quills sticking out from the wound. Suddenly Peirce jumped on my back, metal claws digging into me and jaws clamping down teeth like daggers in my shoulder. I roared in pain, stabbing Thorn's broken quills into Peirce's snout. He let out a whimper but continued to clamp down, this time a lot harder.

I fell to my knees as Thorn took advantage of the situation and started punching me in the gut, quills stabbing through my thin t-shirt and tearing at my flesh. I was starting to feel light headed as fresh blood poured from my wounds. As I slipped closer and closer to unconsciousness, which I knew would lead to death, I felt myself returning to my more human form.

 _Shit, shit, shit_ , I thought. _Not now. I don't stand a chance if I'm not in Eraser form._

Suddenly I heard it again. The voice of my sister, screaming in fear. Oh God... oh God no. They were going to hurt her next. But no, no it had to be another hallucination. It had to be. Sydney wasn't here.

"Christian! Help me!" I heard. I turned my head to the voice and saw her. My sister. She was here.

These fucks weren't going to hurt her.

My face began to get hot, perhaps turning red from anger. I could feel some sort of burning inside me, almost as if a fire had been lit in there. My hands were heating up as well and when I looked down, I saw that they were beginning to glow red, the quills in my fist shriveling up from the heat that was radiating from it. The stabbing suddenly came to a stop as Thorn and Peirce stared at my hands, obviously confused.

"What the..." Thorn started to say, before being completely cut off by the jets of fire that came bursting from my hands. Both Erasers jumped back, doing what they could to avoid the flames. They looked at me in shock. Quite frankly, I was pretty shocked too, not that I'd let them see that, but still. I glanced down at my hands, still glowing red hot, before turning my attention back to them. A small smile crossed my face as I raised my hands. I was beaten and bloody, crimson still leaking from my body, but now I was the one that was gonna lay the smackdown on them.

"My turn assholes."

* * *

 _My God... I'm so sorry that happened to you_ , Alpha's voice rang out.

Layla tried to open her mouth to breathe but took in nothing but the blood that surrounding her.

 _This is kinda sad_ , Alpha's voice muttered. Suddenly the blood began to drain away, and Layla gasped in as much air as she could, coughing and sputtering as she did. It was a few minutes before she could finally speak.

"Get out of my head... get out. Get out now!" she screamed.

 _I can't. Not yet. There's still some demons that need to be brought forward._

Layla wanted to scream at him again but, suddenly, she was back in Scorchwood. The insane surrounded her, shuffling about their business, orderlies handing out medicine and comforting those who needed the comfort. It was almost peaceful.

That is, until the maniacal giggles started up.

 _Oh, so you and Luna know each other. That's interesting. You met in an insane asylum. Ok. Then what?_

"Hey you," Luna said from behind Layla. Layla whirled around, facing the girl who, for some unknown reason, had wanted to make her life a living hell.

"What?" Layla asked, trying not to show the fear that was building up inside her. Too late. Luna could smell it. Literally. She was sniffing Layla now and liking what she smelled.

"What's wrong puddin? You look like you've seen a ghost," Luna purred, a sadistic smile crossing her face. She pulled Layla closer and licked her, tasting the perspiration building on her forehead. Layla just closed her eyes and tried to suppress the screams building up in her throat. "You taste salty and yummy! Aw, you're scared of something aren't you? Well don't worry, we'll have another sleepover tonight and I'll protect you from the scary monsters."

Layla couldn't fight what was happening. The memory was too strong, and now there was no escaping what would happen next.

* * *

Wonder blasted her concussion energy again, hoping that it would do something to Gamma, something to slow him down, but it was to no avail. He fired back with his own green concussion energy. Wonder flew back, trying desperately to avoid it, zipping through the trees in frantic dodges.

"You know, you're pretty good," Gamma said. "It's too bad you're not on our side. You might've become something! Well, something aside from Luna's next meal I mean." He raised his paw, green energy radiating from it. "Such a waste," he said as he expelled more energy in Wonder's direction.

Only to find Peirce on the receiving end of the blast.

"What the fuck?" Gamma whirled around to find Thorn now being blasted in his direction, followed by a jet of flames. Gamma jumped out of the way to find a bloody Christian, hands ablaze staring back. The two sized each other up, giving Wonder a chance to breathe.

"You don't look that tough," Christian said. Gamma laughed.

"Try me," the Eraser said back. Christian raised his hands as Wonder stood back up, her own hands surrounded by glowing pink. Gamma, seeing the light coming from behind him, turned to find himself between them.

"Wait..." he began to say, but Christian and Wonder blasted him from both sides, the pink energy and the fire completely engulfing the Eraser until he finally fell to his knees. Wonder turned back to Alpha, sending one more blast of energy at him.

It hit, a howl of pain coming from his mouth. His eyes opened and Layla woke up in a cold sweat.

"Layla!" Wonder screamed in relief. She began running over to her sister, only to be hit with another beam of energy from Gamma.

"You really think that was enough to stop me?" he asked with a laugh. "God, you kids are stupider than I thought."

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Christian yelled, running at Gamma, ready to fight. He was intercepted by a recovered Thorn and Peirce, who tackled him and continued tearing him to shreds. Sounds of carnage and screams of pain echoed from the dog pile and Wonder, against her instincts, raised her hand to the two Erasers, ready to blast them off of Christian.

Until Gamma stepped in front of her, grabbing her hand in his own.

"I wouldn't try that if I was you," he said.

* * *

 **Christian's POV**

This was it. I had fought as hard as I could but it wasn't enough. Layla was down and now Wonder was trapped where she was by Gamma. Thorn and Peirce were ripping into me, tearing through flesh and producing more and more blood, until finally they stood and just started kicking me like I was an abused pet.

Why did they to drag this out? There was no way out for me. I was done for. I curled up into a ball, accepting my fate and waiting for death.

Then suddenly, the kicking stopped. There were shouts of shock, confusion, anger. Opening my eyes, I saw that everyone was staring at Thorn.

Two arrows had been shot into the back of his head.

Two arrows that now had his skewered eyeballs on the very tips.


	31. Chapter 30

**Christian's POV**

Thorn just stood there for a second before falling to his knees. His now empty eye sockets began to drip, making it look as though he was crying blood. Peirce rushed to Thorn's side and started talking to him, telling him it would be alright, they'd get him help, all the cliches that you tell a dying person with no hope of recovery.

Peirce looked so torn up, tears even starting to run down his face that I didn't know if he was trying to comfort Thorn or himself. Not that it really mattered. Thorn died in his arms almost instantly, covering the entire front of Peirce's body with his blood.

Gamma on the other hand was firing as much of his energy blasts into the trees, trying to hit whoever or whatever just killed Thorn and screaming obscenities.

If we were going to get out of here, now was the time to do so.

I tried to stand but I could barely even push my body up into a sitting position. My vision was starting to go a bit blurry and my muscles felt flimsy and weak, probably cause of all the blood I had lost.

As I kept trying to pull myself up I saw Wonder on her feet and picking up her unconscious sister. Her wings snapped out and just before she took off, she glanced back at me, a strange look on her face. Why? What was going through her head?

Wonder let out a frustrated sigh and took off into the air, taking Layla with her to safety, with me watching as possibly my last hope for survival flew disappeared.

 _You know what_ , I thought, _this is fine. At least they're safe._

Then my vision faded to black.

* * *

Wonder scanned the area with her raptor vision and saw Oliver. Relieved, she began to descend, carefully so as not to worsen any potential injuries Layla may have sustained. As they came closer to the ground, Oliver, who seemed to be scanning the skies, spotted them.

"Wonder! What happened over there?" Oliver asked in a panicked voice as Wonder landed. "What's wrong with Layla?"

"There was another telepath," Wonder said speedily, laying her sister on the ground gently. "He was in her head. I don't know what kind of injuries she might have or mental scars for that matter, the little bastard was basically torturing her!" Oliver kneeled and began inspecting Layla as Wonder did what she could to keep her composure. They had been hopelessly outmatched and now her sister had been hurt. Again.

What kind of big sister let's her little sister get hurt this many times by so many people?

"I'm not seeing any physical injuries," Oliver said. "Mentally... well we'll just have to wait and see." He stood and looked around. "Where's Christian?"

"He's... still back there," Wonder said. "I couldn't carry both of them and he's been torn to shreds. It's horrible Oliver. There's so much blood."

"... Is he still alive?"

"Last time I saw him he was..." Wonder sighed. "Damnit." Her wings snapped out and Wonder was back in the air.

This wasn't exactly something she wanted to do. What if she was right about him? If she was, then this, what she was doing right now was basically suicide. Then again, what if she was wrong? She wouldn't be able to live with knowing that she could've saved the life of someone who didn't deserve to die.

 _Fuck it_ , Wonder thought.

* * *

As she landed back in the woods, Wonder's gaurd went back up, the cold of night starting to set in and her breath now becoming visible. The section of the woods they had been in was now scorched. Some trees were broken in half, some charred, some whose leaves were still flaming. Parts of the ground had suffered the same fate, but some parts had torn the dirt completely up and left the beginnings of small trenches in the Earth. Smoke billowed up into the sky from the flames.

And there was blood everywhere.

Like, seriously. Everywhere. The ground had been painted nearly completely crimson from Christian's fight with Thorn and Peirce, so much so that one could see exactly where they had moved during the fight. One spot was particularly bloody, some chunks of flesh laid around it.

This was where the two Erasers had started murdering Christian near the end of the fight.

Wonder scanned the area, trying to keep the contents of her stomach inside. He had been here when she saw him last. It was unlikely he had been able to move, so he couldn't have gone far.

But he was gone.

"Christian," Wonder whispered. No answer. Just the crackling of the flaming trees.

"Christian!" Wonder said louder, immediately wishing she hadn't. Though she still didn't see or hear anyone, who knows if they were still out there looking for her?

Still no answer. Shit.

 _Should I try again or is it even worth it?_ She wondered. Wonder scanned the area again, searching for something, anything that would help her. Maybe she missed something.

Then she heard something she could barely make out.

 _What the hell?_ The sound had been so faint, but it was there. Wonder focused on her hearing.

Drip.

There it was again. Wonder exhaled slowly, as if breathing slower would somehow help her hear better.

Drip.

Wonder spun around. Where the hell was that coming from?

Drip.

It almost sounded like she was right on top of the sound. What...

Drip.

This time she felt something on shoulder. Wonder looked over to see a fresh drip of blood on the shoulder of her shirt. Another drop suddenly came down on her shoulder, this one starting to run down her sleeve to her arm.

Wonder looked up and gasped. She saw him. Christian was laying in the tree branches, his blood slowly dripping down to the forest floor below him.

With one powerful flap of her wings she was in the branches too, crouching down next to Christian. Her hand immediately went up to her mouth. The excessive blood loss had turned him so pale that it made him look like he was dead. She leaned in and listened, barely picking up a heartbeat. Little clouds of his breath tried to make their way out of his mouth. He was caked in dried blood, but the fresh slices and puncture wounds from the jaws of the wolf men still leaked fresh, wet blood.

"Oh God, what do I do?" Wonder muttered. Suddenly she felt the tip of an arrow against her head and the presence of someone else next to her. They spoke in a language Wonder had never heard before, and they sounded aggressive.

"What'd you say?" Wonder asked. "What do you want?" The other person exhaled slowly before speaking.

"I said, don't move or I put this arrow through your skull."


End file.
